Westgate Dermatology & Laser Center

Although his studies and educational pursuits took him out of the state for a period of time, Dr. Howell is proud to call North Carolina home, having grown up in High Point, North Carolina. He graduated magna cum laude from Virginia Tech with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and went on to receive his Medical Doctorate degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where he met his lovely wife, Jennifer. A move to Grand Rapids, Michigan allowed Dr. Howell to complete both his general surgery and formal plastic surgery training at the Grand Rapids/Michigan State University program. During his last year there, he was a Chief Resident in plastic surgery.

It is somewhat rare that the occupation that fascinates someone in their youth translates into a lifelong profession; but, when Dr. Tucker put on a stethoscope at approximately the age of five, he never took it off. When he began his rotation at medical school, he was always fascinated with surgery. But, when it came time for a plastic surgery rotation, the creative aspect of working with each individual patient, whether reconstruction or aesthetic, combined his already artistic nature with the opportunity to practice great medicine. There was no turning back. The little boy with the stethoscope evolved into the gifted surgeon.