He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor's degree in 1961 and a medical degree in 1965. Three years later, he was drafted into the US Army Medical Corps and was posted to a hospital in Japan as a pediatrician for military families stationed there. Because of the overwhelming number of Vietnam War casualties, he was put to work as a surgeon. He later wrote a book, "365 Days," a frank narrative of what he witnessed amid the young soldiers whose lives were torn by horrific trauma.
