Colston Arthur Edgerton, MD

Dr. Valerian Fernandes received his MBBS degree from St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore in 1989 and his post graduate M.D. (internal medicine) degree from Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh, India in 1992. He received his MRCP degree in 1994 (Member of Royal College of Physicians-UK). In the U.S. he did his internship at St. Luke-Roosevelt Hospital in New York and completed his internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota in 1997. His cardiology and interventional cardiology fellowship training was done at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas from 1997 to 2001. Since his training, he has been on the MUSC faculty as an assistant professor of medicine and as a staff physician and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center.Dr. Fernandes is board certified in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is level III echocardiography trained and certified and also level II nuclear cardiology trained and certified.Dr. Fernandes’ clinical and research interests include complex coronary interventions, rotational atherectomy, vulnerable plaque evaluation and treatment, acute coronary syndromes, alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, peripheral arterial intervention and Doppler and transesophageal echocardiography. He is the only certified percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty practitioner in the state of South Carolina.Dr. Fernandes has been a principal investigator in several trials and has also co-authored many publications. He is very active in teaching and medical education and has received many teaching awards and nominations. He is a reviewer for medical journals and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Dr. George Taylor, professor of medicine, completed medical school at the University of Illinois and did his internal medicine and cardiology training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then served on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia before entering private practice in Springfield, Illinois. He joined MUSC in 1997 and serves as a general cardiologist based at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. His particular interest is the teaching of medical students, residents, and cardiology fellows, and he has authored 15 medical textbooks.

Dr. Brenda Hoffman is a professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. She received her M.D. degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1983 and completed her gastroenterology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1989. She is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Dr. Hoffman is the chief of the Digestive Health Integrated Center of Clinical Excellence. Dr. Hoffman is a member of several organizations, including the American Gastroenterological Association, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Physicians, American Endosonography Club, Charleston Medical Society, Southern Medical Association, and the South Carolina Gastroenterology Association. Additionally, Dr. Hoffman has received numerous honors, including the Faculty Excellence Award, Top 20 Female Physicians -- Southern Woman to Woman, Who's Who/Physicians of the Southeast, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Audio/Visual Award, America's Top Doctors, and Best Doctors.Dr. Hoffman's clinical interests are endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic submucosal dissection, endoscopic mucosal resection, ablative therapy for Barrett's esophagus, capsule endoscopy, laser therapy and therapeutic endoscopy. Her clinical research interests are in endoscopic intervention and prevention and control.