MUSC Health Cardiology at Ashley River Tower

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.

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.

Dr. Zile is a graduate of Rush University School of Medicine. He did his internal medicine residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago, a clinical cardiology fellowship at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston and a research cardiology fellowship at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Boston. Dr. Zile is currently the Charles Ezra Daniel professor of medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.He also serves as the director of cardiology at the Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Charleston. He is an adjunct professor of bioengineering at Clemson University.Dr. Zile's research career has involved both basic laboratory research examining the mechanisms of disease development and progression and translational clinical research examining the application of these basic mechanisms to development of effective treatment methods.Dr. Zile is a recognized leader in the areas of cardiac function, congestive heart failure, diastolic heart failure and valvular heart disease. His research is supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the American Heart Association, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Medical University of South Carolina.Dr. Zile is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of a number of professional societies including the American College of Physicians, American Federation of Clinical Research, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, the Heart Failure Society of America, International Society of Heart Failure, and the American Physiology Society. Dr. Zile has served on the research, educational and program committees of these organizations. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation and is an editorial consultant to a number of others including Circulation Research, Journal of Clinical Investigation and the American Journal of Physiology. Dr. Zile is a member of the Association of University Cardiologists and a member of the ABIM Subspecialty Board on Cardiovascular Disease.

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. Valerian Fernandes received his MBBS degree from St. John's Medical College, Bangalore in 1989 and his post graduate M.D. (internal medicine) degree from Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, India in 1992. He received his MRCP degree in 1994 (Member of Royal College of Physicians-UK). In the U.S. he did his internship at St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital in New York and completed his internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota in 1997. His cardiology and interventional cardiology fellowship training was done at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas from 1997 to 2001. Since his training, he has been on the MUSC faculty as an assistant professor of medicine and as a staff physician and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center.Dr. Fernandes is board certified in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is level III echocardiography trained and certified and also level II nuclear cardiology trained and certified.Dr. Fernandes' clinical and research interests include complex coronary interventions, rotational atherectomy, vulnerable plaque evaluation and treatment, acute coronary syndromes, alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, peripheral arterial intervention and Doppler and transesophageal echocardiography. He is the only certified percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty practitioner in the state of South Carolina.Dr. Fernandes has been a principal investigator in several trials and has also co-authored many publications. He is very active in teaching and medical education and has received many teaching awards and nominations. He is a reviewer for medical journals and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Dr. Thomas DiSalvo attended Harvard College and graduated with honors from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Following medical residency and chief residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and serving on faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he completed fellowship training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. After ten years of clinical practice as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, he was recruited as medical director of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute and as associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt. In 2015, Dr. DiSalvo was recruited as professor of medicine and chief of the division of cardiology at MUSC. Throughout his career, he has been an active and busy clinical cardiologist committed to the highest standards of excellence. As an educator, although he has had the privilege of educating students and physicians in training and lecturing at many national and international cardiology meetings, Dr. DiSalvo enjoys educating patients and their families even more, both in the clinic and at the bedside.

Dr. Brian Houston is a cardiologist specializing in the management of advanced heart failure, including the care of patients before and after heart transplantation or left ventricular assist device (LVAD). After graduating from Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Houston completed residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He was invited to serve as an assistant chief of service of the Thayer Firm at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and he spent that year caring for patients and instructing residents and medical students. He remained at Johns Hopkins for his general cardiology fellowship and spent an additional year of fellowship there training in the care of advanced heart failure, LVADs, and transplantation. Dr. Houston has been invited to present his research work at international scientific meetings. He has a particular interest in cardiac sarcoidosis and in the effects of LVAD support on the gastrointestinal tract, blood, and the right side of the heart. He was honored to be named a finalist for the American Heart Association's Young Clinician Award in 2015. Dr. Houston believes that each patient with heart failure is unique and that, to live their best life, they require a caring and comprehensive approach from a dedicated medical team.

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.

Dr. Adrian Van Bakel graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1981, completing a Ph.D. in pharmacology from that institution in 1983. He completed internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship training at the Medical University of South Carolina and has been on the faculty at MUSC since 1991. Dr. Van Bakel served as the Medical Director of the Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program from 1991-2017. He has been an integral part of a multi-disciplinary clinical team that has achieved excellent results in the areas of clinical heart failure management and cardiac transplantation. He is a member of a number of professional societies including: The American College of Physicians; the American Heart Association; the American College of Cardiology; the Heart Failure Society of America; and, the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. He has served as a manuscript reviewer for several journals, such as: The Journal of Cardiac Failure; The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation; and, The American Journal of Transplantation. Dr. Van Bakel has been the principal investigator of many multi-center clinical trials in congestive heart failure and cardiac transplantation. His research interests include congestive heart failure management, novel immunosuppression strategies and the pharmacogenomics of drug absorption and metabolism.

Dr. Nicholas Amoroso is an interventional cardiologist in Charleston, SC and is affiliated with MUSC Health of Medical University of South Carolina and Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He grew up in the Washington DC area, received his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine, went on to complete his internal medicine residency training at NYU followed by cardiovascular disease fellowship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. He then completed his interventional cardiology fellowship and a subsequent fellowship in structural heart disease interventions at NYU where he worked as faculty. He specializes in minimally-invasive percutaneous procedures for the treatment of valvular heart disease, stroke-prevention, coronary artery disease, heart attacks, cardiogenic shock, and other forms of structural heart disease. His academic interests focus on the clinical optimization of investigational and commercial cardiac devices while participating in numerous clinical trials. He feels fortunate to have a career that feeds his passion but, when not at work, enjoys travel, cooking, lacrosse, and time with his family.

Dr. Sheldon E. Litwin is a cardiologist with nationally recognized expertise in advanced cardiac imaging and its use in the diagnosis of heart disease and treatment of patients with heart disease. Dr. Litwin is board-certified in general cardiology, nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, and cardiovascular computed tomography (CT). He was recognized in 2014 in America's Top Doctors (Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.). He is a strong proponent of preventive cardiology and has a longstanding interest in weight loss as prevention and treatment for cardiovascular disease. He is an avid outdoorsman and exercise advocate who is passionate about caring for active adults who participate in sports or recreational exercise. Prior to coming to MUSC Health, Dr. Litwin was chief of the division of cardiology at Georgia Regents University from 2011 to 2014 and director of cardiac imaging at the University of Utah from 1993 to 2011. Dr. Litwin is involved in clinical trials using new therapies for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). He has published more than 100 scientific papers and serves on several editorial boards and national committees.Dr. Litwin's medical degree was awarded by Washington University School of Medicine. He completed a residency at the University of Arizona and completed a cardiology fellowship at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Jeffrey Winterfield is an associate professor of cardiac electrophysiology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College in Massachusetts and his medical degree with honors from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. After completing his internal medicine residency, he was selected for a highly competitive fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School, in Boston. Dr. Winterfield's interest includes cardiac arrhythmias; he remained on service at the Brigham and Women's Hospital as a fellow in clinical cardiac electrophysiology where he trained with several leaders in the field. In 2011, he took his first faculty position in the prestigious heart rhythm program at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago where he remained for five years. During that time in Chicago, he published multiple papers and abstracts, participated as a principal investigator in clinical trials regarding complex rhythm management, and served as faculty in national and international meetings. In 2016, he was recruited to MUSC for his expertise in catheter ablation of complex arrhythmias, particularly ventricular tachycardia (VT) and premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). He has special expertise in catheter ablation of arrhythmias on the outside of the heart (epicardial VT). Dr. Winterfield takes care of adult patients with cardiac rhythm disturbances including supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), Wolf-Parkinson-White (WPW), atrial fibrillation (AF), as well as premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). He has a particular interest in VT in patients with advanced heart disease including ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies.