Ernesto A. Pretto, Jr. is a physician who was born in Panama City, Republic of Panama and raised in New York City from the age of 2. He has practiced medicine in a variety of settings, spanning the jungles of Darien, Panama to the besieged city of Sarajevo during the war . 

Medical interests include Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, and Organ Transplantation. Non-medical interests include genealogy, antique books, medieval history, biblical archeology, middle eastern history and politics, and poetry.