Dr. Watkins earned his medical degree at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina following a distinguished academic career at North Carolina State University.

He earned his Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Master of Science degree in cellular physiology from North Carolina State. His thesis research project on Bordetella, the causative agent of Whooping Cough, earned him the Ruska Award from the Southeastern Microscopy Society.

Dr. Watkins served in the U.S. Navy for three years as a general medical officer with Naval Security Group Activity. The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, then provided Dr. Watkins with his otolaryngology residency training. During this program, he also trained at Children’s Hospital of D.C. and Washington Hospital’s Medstar Trauma Team. He completed the Advanced Combat Casualty Care Course and desert training in Camp Bullus, Texas, prior to Operation Desert Storm. He was assigned to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base during the early months of that conflict.

After residency training, Dr. Watkins earned board certification in otolaryngology by the American Board of Otolaryngology and finished his military service at Camp Lejeune. Before locating his practice in Bossier City, he worked with a group of physicians at North Carolina Eye and Ear Hospital in Raleigh-Durham. Additionally, he had a solo practice in Georgia and was part of the Bond Clinic in Winter Haven, Florida. He has called Shreveport-Bossier home for over 10 years with his wife & dogs. He has two adult children.