Dr. Margherita attended the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. and received his MD in 1985. He is a graduate of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residency at the University of California at Davis in 1989. He is certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He was on the faculty of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington from 1989 to 1997, and the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis from 1997 through 2003. He lectures locally, regionally, and at the national level on spine, sports, and musculoskeletal medicine and pain mechanisms. He has published over 30 reference articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He has broad experience in clinical research and has participated as an Investigator or Principal Investigator in over 85 clinical research trials. He has been a study section panelist for the National Institutes of Health, research review panelist for the National Institutes for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and has served as an international advisory editor for the International Encyclopedia of Disability.