About the Department of Emergency Medicine

Initially a division of Surgery from 1994-2004, a division of Anesthesia from 2004-2005, and a division of Medicine from 2005-2017, the department officially became the Department of Emergency Medicine in 2017.

In 1994 MUSC’s Emergency Department (ED) was called the “Chest Pain Center.” Six months later, the title was changed to “Access Center” and then officially to the Emergency Department in 1995. Its location on the first floor of the west side of the hospital gave it the unofficial title of “1West” which is still widely used today within the community and hospital. Charleston County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) ED merged with 1West in 1996, creating a united division. CCMH closed in 2008. MUSC opened Ashley River Tower (ART) Chest Pain Center in 2007, which evolved into an ED specializing in Women’s Health, Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Bariatric, and Oncologic emergencies. In 2022 it was renamed “Specialty and Women’s Emergency Department”.

Our mission is to provide exceptional, evidence-based emergency care that saves lives and improves patient outcomes while advancing the field through research, education, and innovation. We are committed to delivering compassionate and comprehensive care to patients from all backgrounds, fostering a culture of excellence, and serving as a leader in emergency medical education and research.

Department Chairs

Edward C. Jauch, MD: 2017-2018
Gregory A. Hall, MD: 2018 - 2019 (Interim)
Terry Kowalenko, MD: 2019-2021
Diann M. Krywko, MD: 2021-Present

Division Directors

Charles S. Gilman, MD - Charleston County Memorial Hospital: 1994 to 1996
James H. Tolley, MD - CCMH: 1996 - 2008
Ralph M. Shealy, MD - Access Center: 1994 - 2008
Lawrence H. Raney, MD - MUSC Charleston EDs: 2000 - 2008
Edward C. Jauch, MD - MUSC Charleston EDs: 2011 - 2017

Medical Directors

Christine M. Carr, MD: 2008 - 2016
Greg A. Hall, MD: 2016- 2020
Morsal R. Tahouni, MD: 2020 – 2026
Kevin T. Dyer: 2026 - Current

Residency Program Directors

Sarvotham (Sam) Kini, MD; 2007 - 2011
Christina L. Bourne, MD: 2011 - 2017
Jeffrey S. Bush, MD: 2017 - Present

The Division of Telemedicine/Telehealth is the newest and fastest growing division in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Established in 2023, it is led by Marc T. Bartman, MD as Division Director and Director of Education (formerly Mitali Mehta MD), as well as Jeanhyong Danny Park, MD as Director of Innovation. The division’s goal is to improve efficiency of care via virtual care platforms and to advance education in this innovative area. The first department Telehealth fellow, Stephen Rhode, MD began fellowship in July of 2026. This SAEM approved fellowship is 5th in the country.

In collaboration with the MUSC Center for Telehealth, the division launched the virtual health platform created by Andor Health™, leveraging OpenAI and healthcare trained GPT models. This allowed a transformational change in existing workflows, utilizing a digital front door and virtual lobby. Further endeavors will expand the reach of our providers from pre-hospital (nursing care facilities and EMS) to post-discharge with virtual follow up clinics.

The Division of Emergency Ultrasound started as a section in 2014 and became a formal division in 2018. Within this division, Aalap Shah, MD currently serves as the Division Director and the Fellowship Director, Earl Cummings, MD as the Resident Education Director, and Cindy Oliva, MD as the Ultrasound-Guided IV Program Director. This group teaches courses at the College of Medicine and the College of Health Professions, has published numerous papers, enrolled patients as part of clinical trials, and received grant funding for scholarly work. They are currently training in the use of Transesophageal Echocardiography for peri-arrest evaluation.

The Division of Global Health was founded by Edward C. O’Bryan Jr., MD in 2015 to promote hands-on clinical field experience, educational initiatives, and research pertinent to the advancement of Global Emergency Medicine. Kathryn Koval, MD MPH currently leads the division as the director. Faculty, fellows, and residents in the Division of Global Health have provided clinical care to thousands of patients and been involved in emergency medicine development and education in Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Mexico, St. Croix and Uganda. In 2016, the Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship was established as an Endowed Fellowship via the Edward C. O’Bryan, Jr. MD Fellowship in Global Health.

The Division of Prehospital Medicine encompasses all Emergency Medical Services including 911, inter-facility transfers, mass gathering and specialty care, disaster preparedness and training, as well as event medicine, wilderness medicine, tactical medicine and maritime medicine. Dustin LeBlanc, MD serves as the Director. Under the division leadership, many EM faculty members are actively involved in EMS. They provide medical direction for several fire departments and EMS agencies in Charleston County and Berkely County. This includes Meducare, MUSC’s own ambulance service, that has helicopter capacity. Residents work with these agencies, participating in longitudinal EMS shifts, including Flight Medicine, EMS/paramedic shifts, and Fire Department shifts. These allow residents to get field training and be prepared and knowledgeable about the prehospital scope of practice.

The Division of Informatics has been revolutionizing healthcare delivery in our region since its inception in 2008 by trailblazers Christine M. Carr, MD and Steven H. Saef, MD. With a focus on enhancing patient outcomes and streamlining processes, this division pioneered the implementation, evaluation, and expansion of Health Information Exchange. This visionary approach not only tackled the challenge of fragmented care but also led to improvements such as a reduction in duplicative testing, shorter ED lengths of stay, and fewer preventable hospital admissions. In 2022, Andrew J. Matuskowitz, MD, continued its legacy of innovation and in 2023, Jeanhyong Danny Park, MD, assumed leadership, igniting a new era of transformation. Dr. Park chairs the ED Information Systems (IS) Governance Board, spearheading initiatives to optimize our EHR systems, fostering efficiency and efficacy. Collaborating with the MUSC Office of IS and the Chief Medical Informatics Officer, the division is driving forward groundbreaking pilots of cutting-edge technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. These initiatives are tangible manifestations of unwavering commitment to delivering unparalleled patient care and propelling our ED into the future of medicine.

The Division of Research is discussed under the research pillar of the tripartite mission.

A. Medical Student

The Department of Emergency Medicine hosts over 100 third year medical students yearly, both visiting and internal. We also offer externships to fourth-year medical students. The department was approved as a formal fourth year elective beginning in June of 2024, allowing all students to rotate through the department and gain knowledge in emergency medicine. We consistently rank as one of the highest sought-after rotations and boast excellent scores in teaching.

B. Residency

The residency training program is interactive and nationally recognized for the quality of the teaching and education. Faculty members have extensive experience in many specialties including simulation, emergency ultrasound, global health, critical care, resuscitation, informatics, hospital administration, EMS, toxicology, and research.

The first class of six residents began in July 2007 and graduated in 2010. In 2019, the residency expanded to ten residents each year for a total of 30 residents. In 2026, the program fully matched to the expansion of 12 residents per year, for a total of 36 residents. Three-quarters of graduates go into community practice; 25% go on to fellowship training. Fellowships have included critical care, global health, neurocritical care, palliative care, pediatrics, sports medicine, and ultrasound.

We boast multiple residency tracks, including Ultrasound, Global Health, Sports Medicine, and Prehospital and Transport Medicine among others. These dedicated tracks enable residents to get more in-depth education and experience in specialized areas throughout their emergency medicine residency.

C. Fellowship

There are currently three approved fellowships with more on the horizon.

Ultrasound has offered a competitive fellowship since 2014, with Emergency Ultrasonography Fellowship Accreditation Council (EUFAC) accreditation in 2021, matching one to two fellows per year fellows each year. The first director was Geoffrey E. Hayden, MD, followed by Ryan M. Barnes, DO and is currently led by Aalap Shah, MD.

In 2016, the Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship was established as an Endowed Fellowship via the Edward C. O’Bryan, Jr. MD Fellowship in Global Health. It is one of two endowed fellowships at MUSC. The first fellows graduated in 2017, and it continues as a highly sought after fellowship program, currently led by Kathryn Koval, MD, MPH, Director of Division and Fellowship, Lacey MenkinSmith, MD, Senior Advisor, and Claire Milam, MD, Director of Student Global EM Education. This program has graduated six fellows thus far and serves patients all over the world.

Medical Education began in July of 2024 and has graduated two successful fellows from this program. This fellowship is under the directorship of Lindsey K. Jennings, MD, MPH.

The Scott Longfield Telehealth Fellowship is the newest fellowship in the department of Emergency Medicine and was made possible by the generosity of a donor with vision to tackle a broken and fragmented care system. The fellowship was the 2nd of its kind to obtain approval from SAEM in 2025. We proudly matched our first fellow to begin in July 2026. This fellowship is the 5th in the country with directorship under Marc T. Bartman, MD.

Notable Contributions to Science

The Division of Emergency Medicine Research was created to support a growing number of faculty researchers in multidisciplinary collaborative research endeavors. The faculty have published numerous peer reviewed papers (totaling more than 80 in the past 6 years), enrolled patients as part of clinical trials, and received grant funding for scholarly work. The division is committed to improving overall healthcare through innovative research and educating learners. Research methodology is a critical part of the residency curriculum.

Research by faculty, fellows, residents, and mentored medical students continues to grow with IRB submissions for projects in traumatic brain injury, telehealth, heart failure, COVID/Flu, cardiac Troponin-I, Myocardial Infarction, sepsis, and opiate use disorder. Our research portfolio represents economic activity and job creation to the state of South Carolina and the University that would otherwise not exist. EM faculty have ongoing research collaborations with the Departments of Biomedical Informatics, Psychiatry, Pulmonary, Neurology, Radiology, Cardiology and College of Nursing.

The department invested in recruitment and was fortunate to hire Nathan Roberts, MD PhD in 2024. His area of expertise is in the field of traumatic brain injury. Greg A. Hall, MD co-chairs EMERG, the Emergency Medicine Exploration in Research Group to augment the research careers of EM faculty and residents and increase the national footprint of high impact research by our department. Under his vision, the Inaugural Department of Emergency Medicine Research Day was held in January 2026.

General Extramural Funding Record/Standing

Total research revenue for each fiscal year nears $1M, with ~5-7 IRB submissions occurring. Faculty members are involved in research projects including NIH-funded multi-center studies. Multiple active studies are ongoing. Staffing was increased to include a PharmD, fully funded by industry-sponsored studies.

The department received a NIH/NINDS StrokeNet Regional Coordinating Center award for SC CoAST (Combination of Autophagy Selective Therapeutics) which creates collaboration to perform cutting-edge research in cerebrovascular emergencies. Additional funded research areas include cardiology, toxicology, infectious disease, informatics, and neurosciences.

Clinical care is a fundamental cornerstone of the Department of Emergency Medicine. The department provides critical emergency services at the Main Adult ED and the Ashley River Tower (ART) ED not found elsewhere in the region. ART is accredited by the Joint Commission as a Chest Pain Center. MUSC has the only South Carolina Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Trauma Centers, as well as a burn center, credentialed by the American College of Surgeons. Similarly, MUSC provides the highest level of cerebrovascular care throughout the South via the Comprehensive Stroke Center. MUSC is the only Pulmonary Hypertension Center in the region. Tertiary care services are available for all conditions, making MUSC the state's quaternary care center, for the Regional Health Network Hospitals and those outside of the MUSC system. The department’s commitment to compassionate care is not limited to the Lowcountry. The Department of Emergency Medicine has partnered with the MUSC Center for Global Health and OneWorld Health to provide care across the globe with focus on the countries of Burundi, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and Uganda. Furthermore, we are proud to now have the physician group of Orangeburg Regional Medical Center and its Free Standing Emergency Department (Bamberg-Barnwell Medical Center) as part of the Department of Emergency Medicine.

MUSC is the largest healthcare provider in the state of South Carolina. The divisions within MUSC focus on providing tertiary/quaternary care to patients throughout the region. As a Level 1 Trauma Center, MUSC ED has access to all medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties. Innovations in clinical care include a vertical care space, telemedicine services, and many patient-centered initiatives.

The Main Adult ED hosts 52 patient care spaces, including three resuscitation bays with a dedicated CT scanner. The ED is organized in a pod system. The Main Adult ED serves nearly 50,000 patients per year and is staffed by attending physicians, residents and advanced practice providers employed through the university. The Ashley River Tower (ART) ED is on the Charleston Campus and is a 21-bed ED (increased from 16 in 2024), serving approximately 14,000 patients per year. Admission rates from the ED range from 25% to 35%, at the Main department and ART respectively, with a combined annual volume of 64,000 and growing.

The MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital has a 20-bed pediatric emergency department, which was opened in 2019. The peds ED is a level 1 trauma center with two resuscitation bays. The hospital features brand new equipment with a dedicated CT scanner and two available ultrasound machines.

MUSC EM continued to provide high quality, patient-centered care during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Despite all obstacles, including a staffing crisis, patient care never ceased. We are proud of the amazing perseverance of the team that led the state in care models during that time.