Neil graduated Collingswood High School (NJ) in 1962, having participated in wrestling, cross country and track. He entered the Collingswood High School Hall of Fame in 2007 for Lifetime Achievement. He graduated Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster Pennsylvania in 1966 with a B.A. We asked Dr. Neil how he got involved in wrestling, and he told us this story that shows his determination and love of wrestling. He said that he went to Coach Sam Coursen ("The Boss") and asked. Neil was sure that he was laughing on the inside, but Coach Sam got him started. He can still remember how scared he was getting ready for the early matches. The Boss used to say that the other team put on their pants one leg at a time, just like them. Neil was determined to do better, so the next few summers he lifted weights and worked out a couple of nights a week on the mats at friends' houses. Some of the kids he wrestled were past and future State, Regional and District Champs. That helped him tremendously. In his junior year, he won all of his JV matches so the coach worked him into a few varsity matches. That helped his confidence, despite the fact the he lost most of them. Besides wrestling, he was a varsity soccer player, and in 1988 he ran the Bangkok Marathon.

Neil received his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1970. He was interned at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania (1970-71). He then served residency in general surgery at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland (1972-76). He had a postdoctoral fellowship in thoracic surgery from University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore (1983) and received numerous board certifications and honors during his career, publishing many recognized papers.

Neil has been a member of OMF International since 1978, working first as a surgeon at Manorom Christian Hospital in Central Thailand from 1979 until 2001. His mission was to bring high quality surgical care and spiritual healing to the people of central Thailand. He and his family returned to the states in 2001 to head up the OMF-US team to mobilize professional personnel to provide physical, spiritual and community wholeness to people in needy urban and neglected rural areas of East Asia.