I was born in El Paso while my father was in the Army and stationed at Fort Bliss, but I grew up in Houston, attending Walker Elementary in kindergarten and then Bonner Elementary through sixth grade. I attended Deady Jr. High and Milby Sr. High and played football and baseball. Both of my parents went to Deady and Milby. I have degrees from Sam Houston State Univeristy, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Loyola University of New Orleans School of Law. I have worked at Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Oregon Health Sciences University, Tulane Medical School, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, Morgan Lewis and Bockius, Drinker Biddle and Reath, and the University of Virginia. My early career was as a scientist and I then became a patent lawyer. I married while working at the Mayo Clinic and we had our son while living in Portland, Oregon.