MUSC Health Cardiology at East Cooper Medical Pavilion

A native of New York, Dr. Michael R. Gold graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1975. He received his medical degree from the University of Colorado in 1985 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia in 1979. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1991. Immediately thereafter, Dr. Gold joined the faculty of University of Maryland where he was the director of the cardiac electrophysiology service and assistant professor of medicine and physiology. In 2001, he became professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine. From 2002 to 2015, Dr. Michael R. Gold was the chief of cardiology, Michael E. Assey professor of medicine and medical director of the Heart and Vascular Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Gold is the author of over 250 publications. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, in cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. His special interests include electrophysiology, adult cardiology and arrhythmias and he is a pioneer in the development of new defibrillation techniques and pacing for congestive heart failure.

Kellie is board certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner and as a Clinical Lipid Specialist. She received her undergrad BSN at Clemson University. She worked for two years at the Medical University of South Carolina in Cardiology before attending graduate school, also at MUSC. She is a member of the Cardiology division and has been treating lipid disorders since 2004. Her specific interests are lipid management, statin intolerance, HTN, screening for CV disease, advanced lipid testing and exercise prescription.

Dr. Eric Powers is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is the director of the acute coronary syndrome center and medical director of the cardiology inpatient progressive care unit. His clinical interests are invasive, interventional and general cardiology. Dr. Powers is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. He did his internal medicine and cardiology training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Prior to moving to the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Powers was on the faculty and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at Columbia University in New York and subsequently at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Powers' research career has involved both laboratory and clinical research. Areas of research have included acute myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndromes, interventional cardiology, vascular biology, congestive heart failure and valvular heart disease. Dr. Powers has coauthored over one hundred peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of a number of professional societies including the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Powers has served on research and educational committees for these organizations and has served as an editorial consultant for a number of medical journals. He has served on an NIH study section and grant review panels for the American Heart Association and NASA. Dr. Powers has received a number of teaching, community and clinical awards and has been named as one of America's Top Doctors and one of the Best Doctors in America.

John Marcus Wharton, M.D. is professor of medicine with tenure at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Wharton received his M.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, and completed an internship and residency at the University of California at San Francisco. He then completed his cardiology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and subsequently served as assistant professor of medicine, director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology, and associate professor of medicine with tenure there. Among his many awards and honors are the Albert Weinstein Prize in Medicine and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE) Young Investigator Award. Dr. Wharton has published articles and abstracts in many journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, and Circulation. He currently serves on the editorial board of EP Lab Digest, Clinical Cardiology, and the American Heart Journal. Dr. Wharton is a member of several scientific advisory committees, including the medical advisory panel at Boston Scientific, council of advisors at Medtronics, Inc. medical advisory board at Transurgical, Inc. and scientific committee of the European Society of Cardiology. He is also a member of several scholarly societies such as the Council of Clinical Cardiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology Society, and NASPE. Dr. Wharton serves on many educational committees including the NASPE training and fellowship committee, the NASPE task force of FDA atrial fibrillation ablation, and the American College of Chest Physicians panel on the management of atrial fibrillation in post-CABG patients. His primary research interests are aimed at catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation as well as other arrhythmias; he has lectured internationally on these topics.

Dr. Anthony Carnicelli, M.D. is an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. He specializes in treating patients with all forms of heart failure, including patients with advanced heart failure requiring IV medications, left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), and cardiac transplantation. Dr. Carnicelli earned his medical doctorate degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, where he was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) honor medical society. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was awarded the Golden Stethoscope Award for excellence in teaching and clinical acumen. Dr. Carnicelli completed fellowship training in cardiovascular diseases at Duke University as well as advanced training in clinical research at Duke Clinical Research Institute and subspecialty fellowship training in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology at Duke University. Dr. Carnicelli's clinical interests include cardiovascular critical care, cardiogenic shock, cardiac catheterization, temporary and durable mechanical circulatory support, and cardiac transplantation. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed original research manuscripts and has been awarded grant funding from the NIH to support his work. Dr. Carnicelli is passionate about teaching and enjoys working with medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Pamela Morris is a graduate of Wellesley College and Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship at Duke Medical Center. She is Professor of Medicine in Cardiology and the Paul V. Palmer Chair of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She serves as founder and director of The Seinsheimer Cardiovascular Health Program. Preventive cardiology has been a career-long interest for Dr. Morris. She has served as the medical director of the Duke University Preventive Approach to Cardiology (DUPAC) program (now the Duke Center for Living) and consultant to the Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Health Program in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Morris currently provides comprehensive, integrated preventive care for patients referred with heart disease risk factors and for patients with established coronary heart disease. Dr. Morris is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and clinical lipidology (management of cholesterol disorders). She specializes in evaluation, diagnosis and management of patients with complex lipid abnormalities. Referrals are accepted for treatment strategies including nutrition, pharmacologic (drug) therapy, as well as LDL apheresis. Dr. Morris also specializes in the early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis and is experienced in assessment of coronary calcification and noninvasive angiography with cardiac CT. Dr. Morris is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, and the National Lipid Association. She was the Chair of the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions in 2021 and 2022 and is currently a Trustee on the Board of the American College of Cardiology. She remains a volunteer in the American Heart Association and has served on the AHA MidAtlantic Board of Directors, chairperson of the AHA Heart Walk, AHA Annual Gala, and the AHA Go Red for Women awareness campaign.

Dr. Nawabi brings over 24 years of cardiology experience to MUSC, including 15 years as an invasive cardiologist in private practice in the Upstate. Over the past nine years, she has focused on general noninvasive cardiology in a community setting, prioritizing patient-centered care. Her special interests include coronary CT angiography, women’s cardiac health, cardio-oncology, and preventive cardiology. Dr. Nawabi is honored and excited to serve the Lowcountry community.

Dr. Terrence O'Brien is board certified in cardiovascular medicine and internal medicine. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. His undergraduate degree is in chemistry and he has a master's degree in biological sciences, both at Stanford University. Dr. O'Brien did his three-year internal medicine residency at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (Parkland Hospital), and a three-year clinical cardiology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, where he also did a two-year research cardiology fellowship in molecular cardiology as a Bugher Fellow. Dr. O'Brien is currently professor of medicine and regenerative medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina where he has been since 1993. Dr. O'Brien's clinical interests include all aspects of inpatient and outpatient general cardiology including coronary disease, heart failure, valvular disorders, lipid management, arrhythmias and prevention. He sees scheduled patients at MUSC downtown as well as at the MUSC cardiology clinic in East Cooper, where he is the medical director.Dr. O'Brien's research career has involved both basic laboratory research examining the mechanisms of heart hypertrophy and failure as well as participation in human clinical trials evaluating new medications and diagnostic techniques in patients with various forms of heart failure.Dr. O'Brien is the author of over 55 peer reviewed publications. He is a member of a number of professional societies including the American Society of Echocardiography, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Failure Society of America and the International Society for Heart Research. Dr. O'Brien's research has been supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Heart Association, the Medical University of South Carolina and numerous other sponsors.

Ramsey Wehbe, MD MSAI is a heart failure cardiologist and an assistant professor of medicine at MUSC, with dual appointments in the Division of Cardiology and the Biomedical Informatics Center. He is a physician scientist with expertise and formal training in artificial intelligence, and his clinical interests include cardiac imaging in the diagnosis of heart failure subtypes. Dr. Wehbe completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University and medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to medical school, he spent a year at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical research fellow. He then completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiovascular disease, both at Northwestern, followed by an innovative fellowship in Artificial Intelligence at the Northwestern Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, which culminated in a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence degree from the Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering. Following this program, Dr. Wehbe completed a fellowship in advanced heart failure at Northwestern. Dr. Wehbe has published extensively on the clinical application of artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, to unstructured data sources (including imaging and free text from clinical notes) and holds several research awards/grants in this field. He sees great value in these technologies to help more deeply phenotype the heart failure syndrome and improve outcomes for patients living with heart failure.

Dr. Bishnu Dhakal specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders (cardiac electrophysiology). He received his medical degree from Kathmandu University College of Medical Sciences Nepal. Dr. Dhakal completed his internal medicine residency from St Barnabas Hospital in New York City. He did his research fellowship from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston followed by clinical fellowship in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Dr. Dhakal did his cardiology fellowship from University of Arizona, Tucson and cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Dr. Dhakal also worked an internal medicine faculty at West Virginia University. Dr. Dhakal has published several articles in management of heart failure, ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation and has received several research awards. His clinical interests focus on comprehensive management of complex ventricular arrhythmia as well as atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Tedford is a Professor of Medicine/Cardiology and holds the Dr. Peter C. Gazes Endowed Chair in Heart Failure at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC. He currently serves as the section head of heart failure and medical director of cardiac transplantation. He also established and directs the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Fellowship Program at MUSC. Dr. Tedford is an internationally recognized clinical researcher and has published over 200 peer-reviewed original research manuscripts, invited expert reviews, editorials and book chapters. His research efforts are focused on hemodynamic assessment of right ventricle function and its interaction with the pulmonary circulation and left heart. This research spans the fields of pulmonary hypertension, left heart disease, exercise physiology, hemodynamics, systemic sclerosis and mechanical circulatory support. He participates on several scientific advisory boards, clinical trial steering committees, and serves as a hemodynamic core laboratory for clinical pharmaceutical trials. He is co-chair of the PH due to left heart disease task force for 7^th^ World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension. He is a deputy editor for the *Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation* and serves on the editorial board for *Circulation: Heart Failure¸ CHEST*and *JACC: Heart* *Failure.*

Dr. Christopher Nielsen obtained an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1986. He received his M.D. from Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest in 1990. He did his internal medicine and cardiology training at the Medical University of South Carolina. After completing his training, Dr. Nielsen practiced cardiology in Columbia, South Carolina for two years before returning to MUSC as a faculty member in 1998. Dr. Nielsen's clinical and research interests include: complex coronary artery intervention, acute coronary syndromes, alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale, coronary CT angiography, and renal artery stenosis.