Michael R. Gold, MD

Garth R. Swanson, MD, MS, AGAF, is a Professor of Medicine and currently serves as the Division Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is a practicing gastroenterologist and physician-scientist with a specialty in managing complex patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Swanson's overall translational research program is primarily focused on the impact of environmental factors, like alcohol or circadian misalignment, on the gastrointestinal barrier homeostasis, gut-derived inflammation, and the microbiome. He completed a K23 grant in which the focus was the interaction between alcohol consumption and circadian disruption on intestinal barrier function in alcoholics and night shift workers. Dr. Swanson currently has two R01s examining the impact of circadian misalignment and chronotherapy in Inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Swanson is an active mentor to residents, fellows, masters, and Ph.D. students who rotate in his lab. Dr. Swanson was instrumental in establishing the Rush Crohn's and Colitis Center at RUMC in 2018, which includes the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multidisciplinary (IBD) Clinic, which he used to Co-Direct with Surgery and multidisciplinary (combined medical and surgical) inpatient consults in IBD service. The establishment of this multidisciplinary clinic in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has helped advance state-of-the-art and cutting-edge treatments in a coordinated care center for patients facing a complex medical and surgical disease. He completed a Master's in Clinical Research at Rush University, was formally the Director of the Rush Crohn's & Colitis Center, the Director of the Clinical Chronobiology Unit and the Associate Director of the Rush Center for Integrated Microbiome and Chronobiology Research at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL.

Dr. Katherine Chetta is a neonatologist who works primarily at Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Charleston. She has a special interest in the nutrition of the preterm infant, including the science of breastmilk and its many benefits. She earned her M.D. from Baylor College in Medicine in Houston with high honors, and was in the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA). She completed residency at Texas Children's Hospital and neonatal-perinatal fellowship at the University of Texas Health & Science Center in Houston. She is passionate about caring for babies, and feels honored to serve the families of South Carolina.