MUSC Health Gastroenterology at Ashley River Tower

Dr. Gregory Habig is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at MUSC in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is board certified in Internal Medicine as well as Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Dr. Habig completed his medical training at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, attending medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and completing his Internal Medicine residency and Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Habig cares for adult patients with medical conditions that affect the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder. These conditions often present with symptoms such as difficulty with or painful swallowing, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, bloating, heartburn/acid reflux, diarrhea, or constipation. His clinical interests span the spectrum of general gastroenterology including colon cancer screening, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), celiac disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel diseases such as crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr. Habig has undergone extensive training in upper endoscopy and colonoscopy to provide his patients with expertise in diagnosis and management of these conditions.

Dr. K. Mark Payne is the director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He earned his M.D. at the University of Kansas, following which he completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology, also at the University of Kansas. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Payne is a member of several organizations, including, the American Gastroenterological Association, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and American College of Gastroenterology. He is also a member of MUSC's Mission Based Management Committee, the Department of Medicine Compliance Committee, and the Conscious Sedation Committee.Dr. Payne's clinical interests include advanced endoscopy, pancreatobiliary endoscopy, hepatology and clinical service management and administration.

Thomas W. Faust, M.D., M.B.E. has served as Professor of Medicine and Surgery in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology. Dr. Faust has been practicing for over 35 years. He received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University, M.D. from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, and Masters in Bioethics from The University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Faust completed internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, fellowship in gastroenterology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and transplant hepatology fellowship at The University of Nebraska. Over the past 35 years of practicing hepatology and transplant hepatology, Dr. Faust has been fortunate to practice in a variety of academic institutions across the country. He served on the faculties of The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Georgetown University School of Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, and most recently, The University of South Carolina School of Medicine. His roles included assessment of general hepatology patients and patients undergoing liver transplant evaluations. Moreover, as a transplant hepatologist, Dr. Faust worked closely with transplant surgeons, coordinators, pharmacists, nutritionists, social workers, and advanced practice providers in the pre-, peri, and postoperative management of patients undergoing liver transplantation. At all institutions, he participated in outpatient general hepatology, transplant evaluation, and post-transplant clinics. Moreover, Dr. Faust was an active member of very busy inpatient hepatology services at all institutions described above. At all institutions, Dr. Faust coordinated didactic with clinic activities for medical students, internal medicine and surgery residents, gastroenterology fellows, and transplant hepatology fellows.

A native Floridian, Dr. Erin Forster moved to Washington, DC for her undergraduate studies at Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service. She spent the next 10 years in Miami, FL at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital for medical school, residency and fellowship in Gastroenterology, while also completing a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University with a focus in Nutrition. During this time, she also traveled to rural areas in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Tanzania for medical mission work.With a solid foundation in gastroenterology, Dr. Forster then completed a fourth-year fellowship in Advanced Endoscopy at Geisinger Medical Center in north-central Pennsylvania. She also gained additional exposure with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), both at the Crohns and Colitis Center under the mentorship of Dr. Maria Abreu and at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Bo Shen (in advanced endoscopic management of IBD).Dr. Forster is very excited to be part of the faculty at MUSC located here in Charleston, a multi-time winner of Travel + Leisure magazine's #1 City in the World designation.

Dawn Smalls has always had a passion for caring for those in need. She is a native of Charleston, South Carolina where she graduated from Trident Technical College with her Associate of Science in Nursing. While working as a registered nurse, she continued to further her education. She earned her Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina. She has also obtained certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2021. She remains local in Charleston, South Carolina where she actively participates in improving access to care and continues her passion to help those in need.

Dr. Sharma is the Donald O. Castell Endowed Chair in Gastroenterology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) with a clinical and translational focus in Neurogastroenterology \& Motility (NGM), particularly diabetic gastroparesis and Parkinson's disease. He obtained his medical degree at Virginia Commonwealth University, completed internal medicine residency at Temple University Hospitals, and GI fellowship at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Sharma's research focus is understanding the pathophysiology of gut-brain axis in various conditions and developing innovative, non-invasive, and promising neuromodulation therapies through his insights, outstanding mentorship and collaborations, and his engineering background. He currently serves as principal investigator of a NIH-funded multi-center, randomized, sham-controlled study investigating thoracic neuromodulation for diabetic gastroparesis (R01-DK133520) and one of the multiple PIs of one of the 5 centers in the NIDDK-supported Gut-Brain Parkinson's Disease Consortium (GBPDC) (U01-DK140923).

Dr. Obineme is a gastroenterologist who has made significant contributions to the medical community in the areas of education and in the understanding of the treatment of complex esophageal motility disorders. He embarked on his educational journey at the University of Maryland - College Park, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and further pursued his studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore where he earned his Doctor of Medicine. He completed both his Internal Medicine Residency and his Gastroenterology Fellowship with the Department of Digestive Diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. While being adept in all areas of general gastroenterology, he specializes in motility disorders of the esophagus and the anorectal area. Dr. Obineme is passionate about medical education, innovation and quality improvement.

Dr. Ira Willner is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is also the director of the fellowship training program for gastroenterology and hepatology. Dr. Willner completed his medical degree (M.D.) at the SUNY Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York in 1990. He then completed a two-year fellowship in gastroenterology at the New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York in 1995, followed by a one-year fellowship in liver disease at the University of Tennessee in 1996. He is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Willner is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, European Association for the Study of the Liver, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, and the American College of Gastroenterology. Additionally, Dr. Willner was awarded the Department of Internal Medicine attending of the year in 2000. Dr. Willner's clinical interests include liver disease, treatment of portal hypertension, and viral hepatitis.

Dr. Kathy Williams is a gastroenterologist with a clinical and research interest in colorectal cancer. She completed her undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins University. She was born and raised in New Jersey, and returned home to NJ to complete her medical education at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC, followed by a year of Transplant Hepatology training at Jefferson- Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Cooper Medical Center in Camden, NJ where she did research on colorectal cancer screening. She enjoys an active lifestyle and spending time outdoors. She is excited to join the faculty at MUSC, explore Charleston and continue her colorectal cancer research.

Dr. Wilhoit completed his undergraduate degree at Washington and Lee University. He then returned home to Charleston to obtain his medical degree from MUSC. Upon completion of medical school, he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at MUSC prior to being selected as Chief Resident. After his year as Chief Resident, he completed an additional fellowship in Gastroenterology \& Hepatology at MUSC and is excited to be in a faculty position at the same place that has been integral for the entirety of his training. His primary focus is general Gastroenterology with a sub-focus on small bowel disease including balloon enteroscopy. A native of Charleston, he feels truly blessed for the opportunity to serve the community he has called home for his entire life.

Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS, AGAF, is a Professor of Medicine and currently serves as the Division Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is a practicing gastroenterologist and physician-scientist with a specialty in managing complex patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Swanson's overall translational research program is primarily focused on the impact of environmental factors, like alcohol or circadian misalignment, on the gastrointestinal barrier homeostasis, gut-derived inflammation, and the microbiome. He completed a K23 grant in which the focus was the interaction between alcohol consumption and circadian disruption on intestinal barrier function in alcoholics and night shift workers. Dr. Swanson currently has two R01s examining the impact of circadian misalignment and chronotherapy in Inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Swanson is an active mentor to residents, fellows, masters, and Ph.D. students who rotate in his lab. Dr. Swanson was instrumental in establishing the Rush Crohn's and Colitis Center at RUMC in 2018, which includes the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multidisciplinary (IBD) Clinic, which he used to Co-Direct with Surgery and multidisciplinary (combined medical and surgical) inpatient consults in IBD service. The establishment of this multidisciplinary clinic in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has helped advance state-of-the-art and cutting-edge treatments in a coordinated care center for patients facing a complex medical and surgical disease. He completed a Master's in Clinical Research at Rush University, was formally the Director of the Rush Crohn's \& Colitis Center, the Director of the Clinical Chronobiology Unit and the Associate Director of the Rush Center for Integrated Microbiome and Chronobiology Research at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL.

Dr. Alexander J. Podboy is a board-certified gastroenterologist and interventional endoscopist at MUSC Health. He completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, followed by a gastroenterology fellowship at Stanford University and an advanced endoscopy fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Through this training, he developed expertise in complex therapeutic endoscopy, motility disorders of the esophagus and stomach, and minimally invasive endobariatric procedures. Dr. Podboy cares for adult patients with a wide range of gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary conditions, including achalasia, esophageal motility disorders, gastroparesis, complex strictures, gastric outlet obstruction, and diseases of the pancreas and bile ducts. He specializes in advanced minimally invasive procedures such as POEM and G-POEM for motility disorders, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty and revision of prior bariatric surgery, ERCP, cholangioscopy, EUS, and advanced techniques for removing precancerous or early cancerous tissue. He has a particular interest in achalasia, foregut motility disorders, and complex pancreatic and biliary disease. His care approach emphasizes minimally invasive treatment options and individualized plans tailored to each patient's needs. Before joining MUSC, Dr. Podboy was on faculty at the University of Virginia, where he helped develop multidisciplinary programs in advanced endoscopy, bariatric endoscopy, and esophageal motility care. His ongoing research aims to better understand the immune mechanisms that drive achalasia and gastroparesis, using advanced tools such as single-cell sequencing and machine-learning models to improve diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Podboy remains committed to providing high-quality, patient-centered care supported by a collaborative team of specialists dedicated to achieving the best outcomes for individuals with complex gastrointestinal conditions.

Dr. Brenda Hoffman is a professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. She received her M.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1983 and completed her gastroenterology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1989. She is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Hoffman is the chief of the Digestive Health Integrated Center of Clinical Excellence. Dr. Hoffman is a member of several organizations, including the American Gastroenterological Association, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians, American Endosonography Club, Charleston Medical Society, Southern Medical Association, and the South Carolina Gastroenterology Association. Additionally, Dr. Hoffman has received numerous honors, including the Faculty Excellence Award, Top 20 Female Physicians -- Southern Woman to Woman, Who's Who/Physicians of the Southeast, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Audio/Visual Award, America's Top Doctors, and Best Doctors. Dr. Hoffman's clinical interests are endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic submucosal dissection, endoscopic mucosal resection, ablative therapy for Barrett's esophagus, capsule endoscopy, laser therapy and therapeutic endoscopy. Her clinical research interests are in endoscopic intervention and prevention and control.