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Who We Are

Meet the Director

Arman Kilic, M.D.

ICCE Chief, Heart & Vascular
Division Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Director, Heart Failure & Transplant Program
Professor, College of Medicine - Surgery

Dr. Arman Kilic is a professor of surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, serves as ICCE Chief for cardiology, and is the surgical director of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program at MUSC. He is board certified in both cardiothoracic surgery and general surgery.

Dr. Kilic graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He subsequently trained in general surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital where he served as administrative chief resident. He completed his fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He has won several awards including the John L. Cameron Award for Technical Excellence in Surgery, the Frank Coulson Jr. Award for Clinical Excellence, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons President's Award.

Dr. Kilic has published over 250 manuscripts and is the editor of several major textbooks. He has served in multiple leadership positions for national societies and is on the editorial board of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the Journal of Cardiac Surgery, PLOS ONE, and the Journal of Thoracic Disease. He is a regularly invited faculty lecturer at national and international meetings. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology. He is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Heart Association, the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. He has mentored numerous medical students and surgical trainees and has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Thoracic Surgery Foundation.

Dr. Kilic's clinical practice encompasses the entire spectrum of heart surgery for adults, including coronary artery bypass surgery, valve repair or replacement, heart transplantation, and ventricular assist devices. He has particular expertise in high-risk operations, advanced coronary surgery techniques including off-pump and multi-arterial coronary bypass surgery, surgery for heart failure, and minimally invasive procedures.

AI is the key to better outcomes for patients by helping doctors make more optimal care decisions and by helping health systems operate more efficiently.

We are fortunate at MUSC to have a very fertile environment for innovation and is filled with energy and momentum from a group of people who understand AI/ML and how it can be incorporated into healthcare.” Thanks to the generous gift from the Schillers, we were able to rapidly develop AI/ML teams, build the needed infrastructure, and begin partnering with MUSC Health clinicians and researchers interested in using AI/ML for surgical innovation.

Arman Kilic, M.D. Director of the Harvey and Marcia Schiller Surgical Innovation Center

Meet the Data and AI Research Team

John Del Gaizo, Ph.D., Lead AI Researcher, leads a team of AI researchers that aims to facilitate AI research in the Harvey and Marcia Schiller Surgical Innovation Center. The team offers AI consultation and prototyping, and access to advanced computational hardware for MUSC Department of Surgery researchers and external collaborators. He has a Ph.D. from the Clemson-MUSC biomedical data science program, years of industrial experience, and extensive knowledge of MUSC data infrastructure and IT capabilities, creating a unique opportunity to be able to support and lead data science efforts in the center.

Brett Welch, MBA, MHA

Program manager experienced in healthcare projects, operational management, and analytics. 

Ruoyu (Michael) Zhang, M.S.

Senior Research Associate

Andrew Wright, M.S.

Research Associate

Dan Rich

Data Analyst