US Marine Corps veteran, former USMC Intelligence Analyst, Ninja (for a while at least), Okinawa, Japan resident for two years, UT Austin graduate (“Hook ‘Em”), Drosophila melanogaster geneticist (best model organism EVER), Board certified Emergency Physician (Go ‘Hoos!) and founder of the revolutionary Code 1 Concierge Care Holistic Health Center in Dripping Springs, TX. I love sports with my boys, Japanese culture, science-fiction, firearms, marksmanship, getting strong and fit, first-person shooter video games (Halo, Battlefield, COD, etc), and taking care of other veterans. 

            Practicing medicine has been a life-long dream of mine and I’ve been privileged with the opportunity to do many amazing things: drilling holes in patient skulls, participating in brain surgery, shocking people back to life, delivering babies (many in the ER), putting big tubes and IVs into people, and so much more. It’s fair to say that there have been a lot of exciting, “Hollywood”-type moments. And for those who understand the phrase…Yes, you can reach practically anywhere in the human body with a 16-gauge needle and a strong arm.

            After more than a decade in medicine and doing great things, it had stopped being fulfilling and had instead become a psychological anchor dragging me (and plenty of other doctors) to the deep and dark ocean depths. While I wouldn’t have listened as a medical student, I’m here to tell you that there will come a time when even those almost unbelievable experiences fail to provide real fulfillment. 

            For most medical students who come to the practice of medicine, a huge portion of our motivation was the ability to make people better. As awesome as those experiences had been, I realized that almost all of them were due to poor choices and often poorly informed decisions. So often folks were suffering the consequences of diabetes, obesity, kidney failure, heart disease and failure, and so much more because no physician had ever taken the time to explain things to them in terms that they understood. 

            I used to be somewhat notorious for sitting down with patients in the middle of a crazy ER shift. I would "waste" irreplaceable minutes explaining  patients and families what was going on, how it could have been caused, what (if anything) options were available, and (Lord-willing) what the future might look like. Many (so many) patients would tell me some variation of, “My doctor never explained any of this to me before.” 

            I eventually came to realize that our current “system” of long wait times,  lightning-fast 15–30-minute appointments never gives patients or their physicians a chance to understand what was going on. Trust me: if you’re a physician then you know that you’re leaving a lot of cognitive understanding regarding your patients behind with such rapid-fire appointments. Physicians no longer have time to “think” in anything more than a superficial way for the vast majority of their patients. It doesn’t matter if it is a Primary Care doctor, ER physician, or specialist of any sort. Doctors must meet various “quality” metrics which, sadly, do not include time spent with the patient, except if it is “too much” time. 

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OTHER DETAILS

     I was born in Baton Rouge, LA but the family soon moved to Houston, TX, and then another move to Southern California just before starting High School. I had a great time in SoCal: I learned to surf, ski (heh), work with my hands, attend Boy’s State, drive a car and wonder why the 91 Freeway never went anywhere quickly. After graduation, I turned down a full ride Chemical Engineering scholarship and instead enlisted in the US Marine Corps. The Marine Corps became my tribe and Virginia Beach, VA, Okinawa, Japan, and Camp Pendleton, CA all turned out to be amazing places. 

     Following the Marine Corps, I headed to college and decided that I wasn’t quite done sitting in classrooms: BA (Biology) at the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Science in Developmental Biology at MD Anderson Cancer Center/UT Houston, and Medical School at UT Health Science Center San Antonio. Residency training in Emergency Medicine and Board Certification (American Board of Emergency Medicine) followed. I like to tell Cole & Jude (my sons) that I "Graduated from the 27th grade" whenever they complain about school. I’m not sure what the horrified shudders are supposed to mean though……

     My professional interests include preventative care, men's health, mental health, pain management, medical cannabis, biohacking, and treating Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) . Our family lives in Dripping Springs and when not in the office you can find me working out, running, shooting guns and writing. 

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EDUCATION 

1. UNDERGRADUATE: University of Texas, Austin (2000)

2. MASTER OF SCIENCE: UT Houston HSC GSBS / MD Anderson Cancer Center (2005)

3. MEDICAL SCHOOL - University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (2009)

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4. RESIDENCY - University of Virginia Hospital, Charlottesville, VA (2012)

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​PUBLICATIONS

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1. Silverberg B, Moyers A, Wainblat BI, Cashio P, Bernstein K. A Stitch in Time: Operative and Nonoperative Laceration Repair Techniques. Prim Care. 2022 Mar;49(1):23-38.

2. The Introduction Of Public Access Defibrillation To A University Community: The University of Virginia. Am J Emerg Med. 2012 Jan; (1):240-2.

3. Genetic Control Of Programmed Cell Death in ​Drosophila Melanogaster. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2005 Apr;16(2):225-35.

4. tramtrack-69 Represses reaper-Induced Midline Glia Cell Death In Drosophila melanogaster. Thesis: Master of Science