Bill grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attending elementary school at Jefferson Terrace and Westminster. He went on to graduate from Tara High School where he played basketball and football. Bill earned his undergraduate and medical school degrees at LSU. During his medical residency, he met his wife Laura while attending the same bible study. After their residencies, they moved back to Bill’s hometown.
Bill worked in Louisiana’s charity hospital system for over 25 years making sure the less fortunate in our state were able to receive quality health care. Laura served as chief of surgery at the LSU Health Sciences Center teaching hospital in Baton Rouge. Bill co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a clinic providing free dental and health care to working families without insurance, while Laura entered private practice and became the first female surgeon in Louisiana to specialize in breast cancer. She worked to progress breast conservation surgery and other treatment options for women.
Bill also brought together doctors, nurses, local government and business leaders together to build a program that vaccinated 36,000 greater Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost to the schools or parents.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill led a group of volunteers to convert an abandoned K-Mart building into an emergency health care facility, providing basic health care to hurricane evacuees. His top priority has always been making sure every family can get the care they need.