Deepak K Ozhathil MD joins the MUSC Department of Surgery

Deepak K. Ozhathil, M.D. joins the MUSC Department of Surgery, effective May 10, 2021, as an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Trauma, General, and Acute Care Surgery. 

Dr. Ozhathil is focused on improving the lives of trauma victims. He is especially interested in the care of patients who have suffered significant cutaneous burns and upper airway injuries as their immediate critical care needs and downstream reconstructive efforts require a highly-specialized interdisciplinary approach to achieve the best outcomes.

Dr. Ozhathil received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts and he completed his residency in General Surgery in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the University of New Mexico, the only Level One adult and pediatric trauma and burn center in the state.

After residency, Dr. Ozhathil completed a combined Surgical Critical Care and Acute Burn Surgery fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Children’s Texas Burn Center in Galveston, Texas, which is regarded as one of the nation’s top burn surgery training programs. As a fellow, Dr. Ozhathil’s patients came from near and far – ranging from industrial accidents off the Texas-Louisiana coast to pediatric survivors of military conflict in the middle east – and suffered a wide range of thermal, chemical and electrical burn Injuries.

Following his clinical training, Dr. Ozhathil stayed on at the University of Texas Medical Branch as the British Petroleum Burn Surgery Research fellow, during which  time, he published a number of book chapters and peer-reviewed manuscripts, presented at regional and national conferences, and helped establish a tissue biorepository to prospectively study the burn wound microbiome. Dr. Ozhathil’s academic interests are in leveraging next generation sequencing technologies to understand intercellular communication within the burn wound. Dr. Ozhathil is thrilled to have landed in Charleston and enthusiastic to be joining the amazing team at the South Carolina Burn Center.