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 (exam 11/18). 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.

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.

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. 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.