About me

I was born and raised in central New Jersey, graduated from North Brunswick Township High School as a National Merit Finalist, and then completed my undergraduate education at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I loved living just a few blocks from the White House, and enjoyed learning local lore and visiting places not included on tourist maps. I graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in biology and chemistry.  

During college I suffered a brief setback, battling leukemia for three years before relapsing and requiring a bone marrow transplant. I used the opportunity to write a guidebook for children with cancer as well as an autobiography chronicling my illness. I channeled my health misfortunes into a passion, and determined to pursue a medical career I returned to New Jersey to attend medical school at Rutgers University. During medical school, I spent a summer working in a Berlin hospital, the Virchow Klinikum, rounding in the pediatric unit. Besides learning about international medicine, I gained insight into German culture and history I used while crafting the premise for my debut novel, The Hesperus Prophecy. 

After medical school, I finished a three-year pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, serving as editor for the oncology chapter of the Harriet Lane Handbook, a nationally recognized pediatric resource. After convincing my co-resident, Joyce Zmuda, to marry me, we settled down in the Baltimore suburbs where I worked in a private pediatric office before returning to academic medicine at the Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. There I worked on research presentations and forayed into other media outlets, providing television and radio interviews on various pediatric topics including advice on toy safety, vaccines, and healthy habits.      

When our twin daughters were born, we moved to my wife's ancestral home of Buffalo, New York, where I worked for another academic institution, the Children's Hospital of Buffalo. In addition to serving as the medical director for the outpatient primary care clinics, I presented at several conferences and grand rounds on the topics of pediatric obesity and quality improvement.  

I currently practice alongside my wife in a private pediatric office, Delaware Pediatrics in Buffalo. I also serve as a consulting physician for local institutions caring for children with special emotional needs, including those with severe autism, as well as victims of abuse and neglect.  When we’re not busy meeting the demands of our twin teenage daughters and three rambunctious terriers, Joyce and I support local animal shelters.