David Pecora became an EMT in rural Pennsylvania in 1979. He then moved to Tampa, Florida in 1981 and completed a 2-year paramedic program. He was a senior paramedic and field instructor for Hillsborough County EMS in Tampa, Florida, as well as a flight paramedic and preceptor for Tampa General Hospitals- Aeromedical Program.

In 1986, Mr. Pecora took the third PHTLS Instructor/Coordinator course in Orlando, Florida. Taught by Dr. Norman McSwain and others.

In 2000, he then completed a physician assistant program, and then a 3-year physician assistant emergency medicine residency at West Virginia University Hospitals.

Mr. Pecora is a nationally registered paramedic, as well as a physician assistant in emergency medicine.