James David Bowsher, MD

Dr. Mileka Gilbert is a pediatric rheumatologist who sees children with joint pain, arthritis, lupus, dermatomyositis, scleroderma, vasculitis, periodic fever syndrome, and fibromyalgia. She has expertise in performing steroid joint injections. She is also very interested in lupus research. Dr. Gilbert attended medical school at the University of North Carolina and also obtained a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology. She completed pediatric training at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Dr. Gilbert joined the MUSC team in 2015 after completing fellowship training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She enjoys working with children and families to provide the best care for her patients.

Mauricio B. Pereira, M.D., Ph.D., is a sub-subspecialist in vitreoretinal surgery. Dr. Pereira has received several awards and distinctions for excellence in ophthalmology in his over 20 years of Ophthalmology practice. Dr. Pereira is active in clinical research, having published many scientific works at society meetings, including peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and abstracts. As a full member of the Brazilian Vitreous and Retina Society and Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology, Dr. Pereira is active in teaching at national and international ophthalmology conferences. Dr. Pereira is a regular reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, such as the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports and Brazilian Archives of Ophthalmology (ABO), and Revista Brasileira de Oftalmologia (RBO). Dr. Pereira received his medical degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1994, one of Brazil's most traditional and oldest medical schools. He completed his training in ophthalmology at Federal Servidores do Estado Hospital and was certified by the Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology in 2000. He completed a two-year vitreoretinal fellowship training at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). He was granted a prize by the BRAVS for a study of "Mechanisms of Retinal Adhesion." Dr. Pereira also completed his Ph.D. with distinction on "Indocyanine green video angiography in blunt traumatic chorioretinopathy" at UNIFESP. In 2009, he joined the Federal Fluminense University (UFF) in Rio de Janeiro as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology for nine years and then as Associate Professor for four years. During his academic career, he was pivotal in helping the Department achieve the top 6 Ophthalmology Residency Programs in Brazil and 8th in Latin America. He also participated as a Federal Fluminense University Medical Board of Ethics Committee member. Dr. Pereira joined the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, in 2023 for a second vitreoretinal fellowship. His contributions to the medical field include directly training more than 200 ophthalmologists as residents or retina fellows. Among his contributions, two publications were the first reports of Susac's Syndrome in Brazil in 2000 and autofluorescence findings in Benign Concentric Annular Macular Dystrophy in 2019. Dr. Pereira has performed thousands of eye surgeries and has significantly contributed to the treatment of eye diseases and blindness prevention in Brazil. His main interests are retina, vitreous, complications of cataract surgery, and surgical treatment of macular disorders.