Graduating from University with honors in African History, James found himself drawn to the exciting world of pre-hospital medicine. First an Emergency Medical Technician and then Paramedic.
Continuing his studies he graduated as a Physician Associate and spent ten years as a consultant with the Neurosurgery service at a large Level I trauma center in southern Arizona. Assisting with surgery, consulting on emergency cases, and managing brain and spine trauma patients in the ICU, he honed his trauma and emergency medicine craft there as well as in Emergency Departments (Casualty/A&E).
His medical career was not limited to the hospital, starting in Virginia, he continued to work as a volunteer paramedic for two mountain rescue teams in the intermountain West, covering two thirds of the state of Arizona and providing backcountry emergency care in some of the most remote locations in the lower continental US for over 15 years.
As a medical trainer, he has served as an instructor from lay providers taking entry-level 2-day Wilderness First Aid courses up through training Junior Doctors, surgical residents, in critical care bedside procedures. He served as the medical training officer for the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group, Central Arizona Mountain Rescue Association, and the Southern Arizona Mountain Rescue Association. He has been a lead instructor for SOLO Medical Schools, the leading provider of Wilderness Medical Trainer in the United States, for over 20
years.
He speaks French, has working proficiency in Spanish, and limited working proficiency in both Wolof and Kiswahili. Having come full circle, he feels his initial degree has given him a unique advantage in practicing medicine and living on the continent.