jeremy.vantress

I was born and raised in Orange County, California, and at 19 years of age served a 2-year humanitarian mission in central Chile. The experiences I had in Chile were formative and inspired my decision to become a social worker.

As a first-generation college student, I graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work from Brigham Young University-Hawaii (2007) and a Master of Social Work from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2009).

After serving honorably for six years in a special operations unit and the conventional Army, I separated from active military service to become a physician and provide medical care to vulnerable populations. During my first semester of medical school, I experienced unexplained neurological symptoms later diagnosed as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I continued to serve as a reservist until I was medically retired in 2018.

I am the Founder and President of Smile Inside, Inc., a nonprofit social work telehealth agency that provides free and accessible online services, including counseling, advocacy, awareness, and social research, exclusively for people with ALS and their families. I was selected as a 2019 Pat Tillman Scholar and I’m currently a social work doctoral student at Walden University. I reside in Corvallis, Oregon with my college sweetheart, Courtney, and our six children.