nobody's partner

Dakota Newhouse is not the most likable guy on the planet, but somehow he's a guy that people keep coming back to. Whether it's because he's the perfect asset to have on your side or because there's just something about his smile that looks almost charming enough to forgive for the things that come out of his mouth, nobody knows but the general consensus that people seem to have about him is that Dakota is someone you want to be in good standing with. A lot of that has to do with his family's wealth. There's a lot of it to his name after all since his parents were practitioners of a time honored tradition: hypergamy.

Unlike the eldest Cameron, Leah, who settled for an ambitious military figure, Janet Cameron, Dakota's mother, married up into the ranks of a wealthy publications investor, Jack Newhouse. Their marriage allowed for the energy propositions the Cameron sisters were fond of to be more effectively broadcast to the world by way of Jack's entertainment and branding connections. The wealth and prestige of Dakota's parents kept them away for much of his childhood which was largely shaped by his cousin, Victor Dunn, whose shadow he grew up in.

Because he attended the same private schools as Vic, Dakota was held to the same standards as his over-achieving cousin. It became grating after grade school and so Dakota turned over a new leaf. Since he was never going to usurp the mantel Vic had created, Dakota would instead carve out one for himself. Using his parents' connections and money, he enrolled himself into every activity he knew he could conquer. It was his own personal brand of satisfaction to master the various extra curricular activities offered by his school. He quickly rose through the ranks within the chess club, the debate team, the gymnastics program, the spelling bee, and the robotics club, competing nationally for each and often taking home the top prize.

Though his parents were always proud of him for his accomplishments, Dakota often strove to the best for no one else but himself. This created a particularly sharp witted and razor tongued boy who saw no problem cutting people down when they proved to be wrong in any scenario. The merits of diplomacy weren't mastered until his first year in college when he entered Columbia University at an early age of sixteen. The school's Model UN program forced him to temper his quick-on-the-draw approach, helping to craft a much more contemplative, though no more humble, Dakota Newhouse.

Through it all, college and the med school that followed it, he and Vic remained close. In fact, it was Vic's near fatal shooting that caused Dakota to change his focus from general practice to neurology in hopes that he might find a way to revive Vic's consciousness. The two year coma his cousin was in allowed Dakota to show his true colors, proving him to be a loving and loyal friend when needed but also someone who would ruthlessly pursue his goals no matter the cost to himself.

Nowadays, Dakota has narrowed his research so that he can study the molecular constructs that allow for the Alzeheimer's gene to set in. He's hoping that by borrowing from the studies of both his alma mater Harvard Med, as well as its cross country counterpart Stanford, he can find the cause of Vic's constant black outs, giving him a chance to conquer something that might actually benefit the greater good as well as his cousin. The only problem with his research is that it unfortunately has to come second to his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.