Stork graduated magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society from Duke University, and earned his medical degree with honors from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He thereafter began an emergency medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. During his residency, Stork appeared on Season 8 of The Bachelor. During the season finale of the show, Stork chose schoolteacher Sarah Stone, who coincidentally lived only a few blocks away from his Nashville residence. However, only one week after the show's pre-taped finale aired, the couple announced that their relationship was already over. Stork completed his residency, then practiced medicine in the emergency room at Vanderbilt and a hospital in Colorado.