Dr McDaniel, a native of Birmingham, was a Carrier Scholar and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi in 1996. Dr McDaniel attended the University of Alabama School of Medicine, where he was a Peacock Teaching Scholar and graduated with Alpha Omega Alpha Honors. He stayed at UAB to perform his internship and residency in Internal Medicine and was selected as Chief Medical Resident and Instructor of Medicine. During that time, he also held the position of associate editor at WebMD Scientific American. He completed his fellowship at UAB in hematology/oncology in June 2006 and was named Outstanding Clinical Fellow and Outstanding Clinical Research Fellow.