>> So I grew up in Pittsburgh.
And early on, I actually chose -- my father asked me to go to our local community college
to go find myself and see what I like because I really didn't have a clue.
And when I was at the school, I excelled and I found I liked the sciences a lot.
My father had a PhD in organic chemistry and I didn't want to go
that route, but I enjoyed the sciences.
So I transferred to the University of Pittsburgh and stayed
on that track thinking health sciences.
Somewhere in the health sciences, I'd like to end up in.
As time went on and I excelled, I did my due diligence looking at the different careers,
chiropractic, dentistry, medicine, and I just spoke with some dentists
and I just thought it'd be a nice fit.
One of my father's words of advice to me was you know, "No matter what it is you do in life,
see -- it would be great, see if you can be your own boss."
And the one thing I liked about dentistry, it still offered the opportunity
to be independent and be your own boss.
And you know, we make choices in life and that was a big thing for me, being independent.
So, as such, at the time I looked at medicine,
and I didn't like the direction medicine was going.
The future was cloudy and so I chose dentistry.
And so I got my BS in biology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1979,
and as good luck would have it, the first letter of acceptance I got
for dental school was to Temple University.