I am the fourth of six children born to Karim and Faiza, Chaldean Catholic immigrants from Iraq. I was born and raised in San Diego and graduated from Chula Vista High School. I studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a BS in Mathematics/Economics in 2003. I then began work in the nation’s capital at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as a Research Assistant doing long-term financial research. Seeking to contribute to the mission of the Church, I began work as a Religion Teacher at St. Augustine High School in San Diego. Following this experience, I sought to build on my undergraduate foundation and began a Ph. D. program in Finance at Duke University. After two years at Duke, I discerned that God was calling me to be a priest. So, I left my graduate work and am now in my first year in the Program for Priestly Formation in the Diocese of San Diego.
