Dr. Rice was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He received his medical degree (M.B., B.Ch.) at the School of Medicine, Trinity College, the University of Dublin in 1991 and then completed his internship at St James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland in 1992. He left Ireland in 1992 to obtain his general surgery residency training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN in 1999. During this time Dr. Rice took 18 months to complete a research fellowship in tumor immunology, examining ways of stimulating T-cells of the immune system to better fight cancer. Dr. Rice went on to continue training in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine and at The UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from 1999 – 2001. Dr. Rice joined the faculty of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2001 where he is currently a Professor in Surgery.