After completion of a family practice residency and my obligation to the US Navy. I spent a year visitng hospitals in South America, the Caribbean, and East Africa. I studied cross-cultured theology for a year and earned a Master's Degree at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. I then spent six years working in a rural hospital in South Africa. I completed a Masters Degree in Family Medicinea the Medical University of South Africa in 2004. I am married to Christa Shaw. In addition to clinical work in Bellingham, I presently visit Burma regularly to provide education to healthcare providers among the Karen tribe in the context of chronic civil war/genocide.