Bill Boden was born in Rochester, New York, on June 21, 1948, and he grew up there. He graduated from the McQuaid Jesuit High School in 1966, from LeMoyne College in Syracuse with honors in 1970, and from SUNY Upstate Medical School in Syracuse, New York, in 1974. His internship and 2-year residency in internal medicine was at the Boston University (BU) Hospitals. Between his resident years, he was a research fellow in the Cardiology Section also at Boston University Hospitals. His clinical fellowship in cardiology was at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.