Gerald studied biology 2 years at Southeastern Louisiana University. He attended Southern Medical School of Ultrasound and became certified as a cardiac sonography in 1992. In 1993, he was a staff technologist and member of the research team at Ochsner. In 1994, he was a preceptor and staff sonographer at Southern Medical training students. He became registered as a cardiac and vascular sonographer in 1995 and received “echo tech of the year”  honors that year.