David Randall White, MD

Ashli O'Rourke, M.D. MS, joined the MUSC Evelyn Trammell Institute for Voice & Swallowing in September 2012. Dr. O'Rourke began her professional career as a speech-language pathologist (SLP), earning her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from Florida State University. After more than seven years of clinical speech therapy practice at Emory University Hospital, she attended medical school at the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology &- Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and her fellowship in Laryngology &- Voice and Swallowing disorders at the Medical College of Georgia.Dr. O'Rourke treats adult patients with problems located in the larynx (voice box), airway (wind pipe) and/or the esophagus (food pipe). This includes hoarseness or voice disturbances, dysphagia, or breathing difficulties due to airway narrowing or scar. She is particularly interested in the diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders as well as laryngopharyngeal reflux disease. Her research interests include innovative technologies for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of swallowing disorders. Dr. O'Rourke is board certified through the American Board of Otolaryngology and serves as a Senior Examiner for the Board. She is a Councilor on the Board of Directors for the Dysphagia Research Society and holds the Mark & Evelyn Trammell Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology.

Krishna G. Patel, M.D., Ph.D. joined the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery in August 2008. She is a native of Athens, Georgia and attended Columbia University in New York City for her undergraduate education. She then earned M.D. and Ph.D. degrees through the combined program at the Medical College of Georgia, where she was awarded the Excellence in Research Award. Dr. Patel completed a residency in otolaryngology &- head and neck surgery at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Following residency, she pursued fellowship training in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of California, Davis. During both her residency and fellowship training, Dr. Patel participated in volunteer medical trips to other countries to provide care to the medically underserved. Her recent trips to Ecuador and El Salvador involved surgically repairing children with cleft lips, cleft palates, and ear deformities. She is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. As a member of the MUSC faculty, Dr. Patel's focus is in the areas of aesthetic facial plastic surgery, such as rhinoplasties, Botox, and blepharoplasties. Her practice also includes facial reconstructive surgery, facial trauma surgery, and reconstruction of Mohs defects. She is the director of the Craniofacial Anomalies and Cleft Palate Center and participates in the repair of cleft lips and palates. She also serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Patel sees patients in Rutledge Tower on the main campus of MUSC, as well as at off-site locations in Mount Pleasant.

Dr. Rahul Argula was born in Hyderabad, India. He completed his medical schooling further south in the coastal town of Puducherry, at JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research). After graduating from medical school, he moved to Houston, Texas, to pursue a Master's degree in public health at the University of Texas school of Public Health, focusing on epidemiology and biostatistics. He then completed a residency in internal medicine at MUSC and following this, completed his fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine, also at MUSC. In 2013, he joined the faculty at MUSC with an interest in pulmonary vascular disease. He is the director of the MUSC pulmonary vascular disease program, where patients with a multitude of pulmonary vascular diseases such as pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary vasculitides, pulmonary arterio-venous malformations, etc. are cared for. The MUSC pulmonary vascular disease program is the only one in the state of South Carolina that is designated as a comprehensive care center for patients with pulmonary hypertension by the PHA (Pulmonary Hypertension Association). Dr.Argula's research interests include pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary vascular disease in the setting of connective tissue disease, interstitial lung disease, end-stage renal disease and sarcoidosis. His clinical interests include pulmonary arterial hypertension(PAH), chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), pulmonary vascular disease in the setting of advanced liver disease, end stage renal disease, COPD, and interstitial lung disease. Dr.Argula is board certified in pulmonary diseases and critical care. He works together with multiple providers within the MUSC system to provide inter-disciplinary care for patients with pulmonary hypertension and other advanced lung diseases. During his inpatient service time, Dr.Argula provides care for patients admitted to the intensive care units at MUSC and also provides consultative services to hospitalized patients with pulmonary diseases.