Jeff’s dream of becoming a physician developed at a young age from a love of learning and a genuine curiosity surrounding the complexity of the human body. He was always active in sports playing baseball, basketball, and volleyball and in high school varsity soccer and tennis. While an undergraduate at Wisconsin he became actively involved in Volunteers for Intercultural and Definitive Adventures and as Vice President he organized a trip of thirty students to Costa Rica and Nicaragua where they worked closely with Central American physicians to provide medical services to persons in impoverished communities. On July 30, 2011, following a diving accident, Jeff found himself lying motionless staring at the bright lights in the emergency room then on a Flight-For-Life to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for spinal fusion surgery. He never forgot his neurosurgeon’s words ” don’t worry my friend, I am confident you will become a doctor someday.” During a ten-week stay in the spinal cord rehabilitation unit, he witnessed the collaborative, multi-disciplinary nature of medicine and strengthened his resolve to become a physician. Jeff missed one semester then returned to school and graduated on time before entering the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.