A gift from his parents at age 11 — a book called The Human Body Explained — sealed the deal. “I think from that point on, I didn’t consider anything other than medicine,” he said. “I still have that book. Actually, it’s sitting right here in my office.”

The office he’s referring to is at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where Crigger is an attending pediatric urologist and assistant professor within the Brady Urological Institute. He specializes in bladder exstrophy, a rare birth defect where the bladder forms outside the fetus’ body. At the Center — recognized as one of the top centers in the world for this type of surgery — Crigger has been performing a surgery known as modern staged repair for the past four years as a member of pediatric urology pioneer Dr. John Gearhart’s team.

“Generally speaking, there are two techniques to repair this issue. The other technique combines the repair and reconstruction, whereas we concentrate on one aspect at a time,” Crigger said. This type of surgery is usually not performed on newborns. “Typically, we wait until they are 4 to 6 months old, if possible.” 

It was Gearhart’s talk as a visiting professor at WVU, while Crigger was a urology resident there, that piqued his interest in this area of medicine.

“He lectured us on exstrophy, and it immediately appealed to me,” he said. “It tied together elements of embryology, major surgery, and reconstructive and plastic surgery techniques, not to mention working with a team, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.” He kept in touch with Gearhart until it came time to apply for a fellowship, which required two additional years of specialized surgical training after his five-year surgical residency.

Just like his medical career seemed destined, so did his route to college. “When I toured the campus, I felt an instant connection. My high school counselor went to the University of Richmond and suggested it because I was looking to major in pre-med,” Crigger said.

A member of the Class of 2011, he is still in touch with a group of friends he met in his first year at Gray Court.

During the summers after his sophomore and junior years, Crigger served as a camp counselor for Camp Kesem, which caters to children who have lost a parent to cancer. He credits this time as the pivotal moment that fostered his interest in working with children.

“That experience is the driving factor of why I chose to pursue pediatric surgery,” he said. “I enjoyed working with kids, and being a counselor equipped me for challenging conversations with families down the road.”

A life-changing public health campaign trip to Peru while a teaching assistant for health policy professor Rick Mayes during his junior year sparked an interest in health policy. He later obtained his master’s in public health policy at West Virginia University before enrolling at Marshall University for his medical degree.

Crigger said his undergrad studies also provided him with a solid background in research and that working as a research lab assistant to chemistry professor Kelling Donald changed his career trajectory. “The research background that he helped build for me has allowed me to pursue research here at Hopkins,” he said.

Since bladder exstrophy repair was only developed in the late 1960s and 70s, the first wave of patients is now in their 50s. Crigger maintains a database to track patients over time and regularly surveys them. “The database is a treasure trove of knowledge,” he said. “We’re starting to get beyond the point of whether these kids can survive surgery and have a normal quality of life, but now it’s about what does exstrophy look like in these aging adults.”