After graduation from college, I began my medical training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia , PA. I took one year off during this graduate medical training to study religion and philosophy and, thus, received my M.D. degree in 1990.

From 1990 to 1993, I completed my residency in Internal Medicine at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , PA. At the conclusion of my residency, I decided not to pursue further clinical training or practice and returned to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for research-based fellowship, which concluded in 1997 with the completion of a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology program. From 1997 to 1998, I completed a transitional year at the University as an Instructor of Medicine, and in 1998, came on faculty in the position noted above. My primary appointment is in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, but I am also at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion ( Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center ), Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine), and Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics ( University of Pennsylvania ).

Nearly 25% of all of my inpatient care during residency was HIV/AIDS-related. The profound experience of caring for hundreds of men who were not only dying of an infection, but were stigmatized by the rejection of many who perceived that infection to be a punishment, was life-changing. All of my research work since that time has been HIV/AIDS-related. I began working on the assessment and improvement of HIV/AIDS-related quality of life. For many years now, however, my work has focused on studying men with personal histories of having been sexually abused during their childhood in order to elucidate their pathways toward abuse-related sexual risk behavior in adulthood.