Department of Surgery Leadership

Prabhakar Baliga, M.D. FACS is a transplant surgeon and chair of the MUSC Department of Surgery, where he leads a diverse range of programs and services spanning nine clinical divisions, in addition to the Department's research and education divisions.

Dr. Baliga's philosophy is to treat his patients with a primary focus on excellence and compassionate care. His clinical focus is in abdominal organ transplant with a special interest in kidney, liver and pancreas transplantation. He treats patients who are experiencing kidney failure, particularly with polycystic kidney disease; liver failure, liver cancer and patients who have issues with their bile duct, a series of thin tubes that go from the liver to the small intestine.

He has served many leadership positions that have positively impacted the growth and expertise of the MUSC Health transplant program, the only solid organ transplant center in South Carolina. Prior to assuming the role of Department Chair, Dr. Baliga was named MUSC's ICCE Leader for Transplant, Nephrology & Hepatology and served on the Board of Life Point, an organ procurement agency. He has also served on the board for the United Network for Organ Sharing and the board of directors for the South Carolina chapter of the National Kidney Foundation. He is on the leadership of the state-wide SC surgical quality collaborative that is focused on improving care of surgical patients across SC. He currently serves on the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors as the Surgical Specialty Society Governor from the Southern Surgical Association.

Dr. Baliga was awarded his medical degree by Madras Medical College in India. He completed his surgical residency at Tulane University and his transplant fellowship at the University of Michigan.

Vice Chair of Finance and Administration

As deputy director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, William Hawkins, M.D., focuses on strengthening translational research and increasing clinical trials across South Carolina.

With a longstanding commitment to leadership, patient care, education and research, Hawkins has expertise in investigating pancreatic cancer. He is also a professor in the Department of Surgery at MUSC and in the Division of Surgical Oncology.

Christian Streck, M.D., serves as Chief of Pediatric Surgery and a professor of surgery and pediatrics. His clinical interests include minimally invasive surgery for a variety of conditions of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. His specific interests include cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, pectus excavatum, trauma, appendicitis, and ovarian masses. Dr. Streck's research interests include pediatric trauma and minimally invasive surgery.

Dr. Streck also serves the Department of Surgery as the Vice Chair of Education.. Before assuming the Vice Chair role in 2023, he led the General Surgery Residency Program as Program Director for eight years.

He graduated from Duke University in 1994 with a BS in biology and an AB in history. He received his medical degree from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, completed general surgery residency in Memphis, Tennessee, which included a research fellowship studying children's cancer at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He then completed pediatric surgery fellowship at LeBonhuer Children's Hospital in Memphis in 2008.

Jean Marie Ruddy, M.D., is a fellowship trained vascular surgeon and has clinical interests in lower extremity venous insufficiency and atherosclerotic disease of the abdominal aorta, carotid artery, and extremity vessels. She serves as Vice Chair of Research in the MUSC Department of Surgery, and dedicates time to scientific research with particular interest in hypertensive vascular remodeling and infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Heather Evans, M.D., MS, is a Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair of Veterans Affairs in the Department of Surgery. She serves as the Chief of Surgery at the Ralph H Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Evans is a general surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive hernia (rupture) surgery. She has performed laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs (TEP) since 2009 and now routinely performs robotic-assisted laparoscopic repairs for groin, umbilical and ventral hernias.

Dr. Evans earned her medical degree from the University of Rochester and completed her general surgery residency at the University of Virginia. She attended UW to finish her training in surgical critical care and trauma at Harborview Medical Center.

David Mahvi, M.D., is the MUSC Department of Surgery Vice Chair of Faculty Development and a surgical oncologist and innovator. He joined the faculty of MUSC in July 2016 as Professor of Surgery, chief division of oncologic and endocrine surgery, and chief of the oncology integrated center of clinical excellence (ICCE). Dr. Mahvi is a surgical oncologist.

Prior to his recruitment to MUSC Dr. Mahvi was the James R. Hines Professor of Surgery, chief division of gastrointestinal and oncologic surgery, and vice chair for clinical affairs Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He served also as President of Northwestern Medical Group. Before joining Northwestern, Dr. Mahvi was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison ultimately as Chief of Surgical Oncology and Director of the General Surgery Residency Program. He led a research laboratory in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin School of Engineering.

Dr. Mahvi's research interests have focused on the development of new biomedical devices in the treatment of liver cancer - he is a national and international authority in the field of hepatobiliary cancer, and has previously developed, manufactured, and performed clinical trials of novel biologics. He is Founder and Director of the MUSC Department of Surgery Human Centered Design Team, part of the Harvey and Marcia Schiller Surgical Innovation Center.

The American Board of Surgery (ABS), the national certifying body for surgeons elected Dr. Mahvi as Chair for 2014 through 2015. During his tenure, he developed national policy on the education and management of the surgical workforce. Dr. Mahvi joined the ABS in 2007 as a representative of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), where he also served as President.

A native of Oklahoma, Dr. Mahvi completed his undergraduate work in microbiology and pre-medicine at the University of Oklahoma and went on to obtain his M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina. He then served his residency and completed a research fellowship in immunology at Duke University Medical Center.

Sharee Wright, M.D. is  a vascular surgeon who practices all aspects of vascular and endovascular surgery. She specialized in diabetic limb salvage, aortoiliac disease, aortic aneurysms, and carotid disease. Her leadership roles include serving the department as Vice Chair of Healthcare Disparities Education and Cultural Dexterity and the College of Medicine as the Senior Associate Dean, Pathways.

Andrea M. Abbott, M.D., MSCR is a board-certified surgical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma. Her clinical interests are breast cancer, breast cancer during pregnancy, Hidden Scar surgery, skin and nipple-sparing mastectomy, breast conserving surgery, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer, minimally invasive lymph node dissection, retroperitoneal sarcoma, and extremity soft tissue tumors.

Dr. Abbott obtained her medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed her general surgery residency at the University of Minnesota. She also obtained a Master's degree in clinical research during her residency from the University of Minnesota. She completed her surgical oncology fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

In addition to her surgical practice, Dr. Abbott is involved in clinical research and evaluating ways to improve information delivery to patients in order to enhance the patient-physician relationship and decision-making process. She is also working on ways to reduce opioid addiction after cancer surgery. She is Hidden Scar certified and uses this approach to improve cosmetic outcomes after breast cancer surgery without compromising cancer care. She is committed to finding a way for each patient to receive the best possible cancer care while honoring each patient's individual wishes and goals for his or her care.

Nationally recognized for her leadership, Gayathri Devi, Ph.D., MS, was the inaugural director of the Duke: North Carolina Central University Bridge office at the Duke Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) and has served on the Board of Directors of the Association for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ACTS). She is currently a Board Member and President of the International Consortium for Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC-IC). In 2025, ACTS honored her with the Addressing Health Equity through Partnership and Innovation Award.

Dr. Devi joined MUSC in 2025. She holds dual roles with Hollings Cancer Center and the MUSC Department of Surgery.

Her research spans programmed cell death, functional genomics, tumor immunology with a translational focus across oncology and surgical sciences. With continuous federal funding, philanthropic support, and extensive international collaborations across Europe, Africa, and Asia, she has built highly productive partnerships with clinicians, cancer biologists, engineers, computational scientists, population health experts, behavioral scientists, and community stakeholders. These multidisciplinary collaborations foster population-conscious, bidirectional engagement projects rooted in a “bedside to bench to curbside and back” cyclical framework that directly improves health outcomes.