Jan N. Basile, MD, FACP, FASH, FAHA
Professor of Medicine
Seinsheimer Cardiovascular Health Program
Medical University of South Carolina
Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center
Previous Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs AHA Council of Hypertension
Charleston, SC

Dr. Jan N. Basile earned his medical degree in 1978 from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He then completed his internship and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, where he was also Chief Resident. He is board certified in internal medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP), the American Society of Hypertension (FASH), and the American Heart Association (FAHA). For many years he served on the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Board of Directors and recently completed serving within the AHA as Vice-Chair of Clinical Programs on the Council of Hypertension.

His honors and awards include the MUSC School of Medicine Excellence in Teaching award, the Golden Apple award, and, in 2014, he was the first recipient of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control Hypertension Physician of the Year award. In 2019, he received the Marvin Moser Clinical Hypertension Award from the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension. He was President of the Southern Medical Association from 2008-2009.

Currently, he is Professor of Medicine at MUSC. He spent 31 years at the Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center while faculty at MUSC having retired from federal service as Chief of Primary Care in 2009. He continues to direct the resistant hypertension clinic within the Seinsheimer Cardiovascular Health Program in the division of cardiology, a multi-risk factor lipid and resistant hypertension referral clinic at MUSC.

Dr. Basile’s research interests include outcome-based studies involving hypertension, lipid disorders, and diabetes. He has been involved in many large hypertension trials including the ALLHAT, ACCORD, VALUE, ONTARGET, ACCOMPLISH, ACCORD and SPRINT and SPRINT-MIND trials, mostly under the auspices of the NHLBI. He was a contributing reviewer of the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) and the 2017 ACC-AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. Dr. Basile has published more than 400 original papers, abstracts, and book chapters, as well as a textbook, Hot Topics: Hypertension. He is a contributing author for the hypertension section of "Up To Date".

Albert J. Hicks III, MD, MPH
Interim Medical Director, Advanced Heart Failure Mechanical Circulatory Support & Cardiac Transplantation
Division of Cardiology
Associate Program Director of Cardiology Fellowship
Clinical Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine
Texas A&M College of Medicine
Baylor Scott & White Health
Temple, TX

Dr. Albert Hicks is an Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiologist. He completed his fellowship in Cardiology and Advanced Heart Failure at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Hicks works at Baylor Scott and White in Temple, Texas where he serves as the Medical Director of the Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support, and Cardiac Transplantation, as well as the Associate Program Director of the Cardiology Fellowship.

Marijane Hynes, MD
Clinical Professor, Internal Medicine
Director, Weight Management Program
The George Washington University SMHS
Washington, DC

Dr. Marijane Hynes has been an Internist for 25 years. She was first and intensive care nurse, where she saw many patients suffer from obesity. She was educated at the George Washington University Medical School and did her residency at Georgetown University in Internal Medicine. During her years as a primary care doctor, she became interested in trying to help her patients lose weight as a treatment for many of their medical problems. She started the Weight Loss Clinic in 2009 which now is staffed with 4 physicians including a mindfulness and preventative coach and psychiatric residents. She has authored two articles in 2018, one about diet and sleep apnea and another about diet and renal failure. She also speaks at conferences and grand rounds around the country about Obesity and at ACP conferences. She has been interviewed by both NPR and TV stations about obesity.

Clarence W. Legerton III, MD, FACR
Low Country Rheumatology
Managing Partner
Articularis Healthcare
Charleston, SC

Dr. Clarence W. Legerton currently serves as Managing Partner of Low Country Rheumatology, Articularis Healthcare in Charleston, SC. Dr. Legerton is a native of Charleston, SC, graduated Davidson College (cum laude) in Davidson, NC, and received his M.D. degree from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in 1986 where he was awarded the Clinical Science and Physical Diagnosis Award. He matriculated to Vanderbilt University to complete a 3 year internship and residency in Internal Medicine, followed by Fellowships both in Internal Medicine/Health Promotion and in Rheumatology. While at Vanderbilt, he served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Saint Thomas Hospital from 1990-1991.

In 1992, Dr. Legerton returned to Charleston to join the faculty at MUSC in the Division of Rheumatology where he was actively involved in graduate education, research, and clinical care of patients with a wide variety of rheumatic diseases. In addition to his clinical and research interests, he, along with Dr. Julius Sagel, directed the Internal Medicine Core for Junior medical students and served as both Vice-President and President of the Medical Staff of the MUSC Hospital. His efforts as a teacher and clinician resulted in appointment to the AOA National Medical Honor Society. In 2002, he joined Low Country Rheumatology. During his tenure, Low Country Rheumatology has expanded as Articularis Healthcare into two states, SC and GA, and has grown to include more than 25 rheumatologists.

Dr. Legerton is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Rheumatology, the Charleston County Medical Society which he served as treasurer, Vice-President, and President, and the South Carolina Rheumatology Society which he has served as Program Chair and President. He is listed as a member of the Best Doctors in America. He continues his strong interest in clinical research, participating in many clinical trials involving rheumatic diseases.

Eddie Needham, MD, FAAFP
Program Director and Academic Chairman
AdventHealth Winter Park Family Medicine Residency Program
Professor of Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor, Florida State University College of Medicine
Winter Park, FL

Dr. Eddie Needham is the Program Director and Academic Chairman for the AdventHealth Winter Park Family Medicine Residency Program in Winter Park, Florida. Additionally, he is a Professor of Medicine at UCF-COM and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at FSU-COM. He practices full-service family medicine providing care from “conception to resurrection”. He has taught family medicine for 25 years and performs many outpatient and inpatient procedures. He served as a physician in the US Army for seven years. In 2013, Dr. Needham received the Full-Time Florida Family Physician Educator award. He has previously received the AFMRD Gold Award as a Program Director in 2017, the GAFP Teacher of the Year in 2007 and the 1996 AAFP Parke-Davis Teacher awards. It is his joy and passion to teach students of medicine the wonders of the human body. He loves his wife of 32 years, his five adult children and first granddaughter, the rigors of triathlons, the wonder and surprise of fishing, and mountain top experiences with friends.

Kevin M. Pantalone, DO, ECNU, FACE
Staff Endocrinologist
Director of Diabetes Initiatives
Department of Endocrinology
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, OH

Dr. Kevin M. Pantalone is a board certified Staff Endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently serves as the Director of Diabetes Initiatives in the Department of Endocrinology. He previously served as the Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Endocrinology from 2014-2019. Dr. Pantalone is a graduate of Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. He was designated a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology (FACE) in 2015. His clinical focus is on the glycemic management of type 2 diabetes, as well as the diagnosis and management of low testosterone in men, thyroid disorders, and pituitary tumors. His research interests are related to the adverse effects of diabetes therapies, particularly those related to sulfonylureas. He is also actively involved in health outcomes research using the enterprise-wide electronic health record system at Cleveland Clinic.

Brian Pearlman, MD FACP FAASLD AAHIVS
Medical Director, Center for Hepatitis C, Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center
Professor of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia
Professor of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA

Dr. Brian Pearlman is the Medical Director for Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center's Center for Hepatitis C in Atlanta, Georgia, and is Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia and Professor of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine. He completed his medical degree at the University of Miami and post-graduate training at both the University of Texas, Southwestern and Baylor University Medical Center.

Dr. Pearlman is Fellow for the American College of Physicians, and Fellow for the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease as well as certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He is also a member of the American Gastroenterological Association. He had sat on the Board of Directors for The American Liver Foundation, Southeast Chapter.

Dr. Pearlman is widely published in leading journals such as The Lancet, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, The Lancet Infectious Disease, Clinical Infectious Diseases and the American Journal of Medicine. He is active in both patient care and in teaching physicians. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards and is an active investigator in multiple liver-related clinical trials, some of which were in collaboration with the CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis.

Veronica K. Piziak, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Texas A&M University
Director, Diabetes Education Section
Senior Staff Physician
Endocrinology Baylor Scott & White Clinic
Temple, TX

Dr. Veronica K. Piziak is Emeritus Director for the Division of Endocrinology and Director of the Diabetes Center for Baylor Scott & White in Temple, Texas. She has attained the rank of Professor of Medicine at Texas A&M University College of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the Akron General Medical Center in Akron, Ohio and received her specialty training/fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH. Her patient care emphasis is on diabetes, lipids disorders, and osteoporosis prevention and treatment and professional activities include obesity and osteoporosis research. She has been on the list of Super Doctors in Texas from 2004 - 2018 and Best Doctors in America 2000 - 2016. She has published numerous papers, lectures extensively, and organizes CME activities.

David M. Plourd, MD, FACOG
Staff Obstetrician & Gynecologist & Obstetric Hospitalist
Formerly Naval Hospital
San Diego, CA

Dr. David M. Plourd has been an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, and at UCSD, for two decades, before he joined the Obstetric Hospitalist Team at Scripps Hospital. Dr. Plourd has been teaching and lecturing nationally and internationally on numerous women’s healthcare topics. He was voted “Teacher of the Year” by the interns & residents at the Naval Medical Center. Dr. Plourd has been a Board Examiner for the American Board of OB/GYN. He is also a Medical Consultant for the Medical Board of California.

C. Wayne Weart, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP, FAPhA
Professor, Clinical Pharmacy and Outcome Sciences
Professor of Family Medicine
South Carolina College of Pharmacy
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC

Dr. C. Wayne Weart received his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1971 from the University of Georgia. He served his residency in Hospital Pharmacy at the Medical University Hospital in Charleston, SC in 1972. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1974. Dr. Weart is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcome Sciences in the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Pharmacy, as well as Professor of Family Medicine in the College of Medicine, MUSC. Prior to his teaching at the Medical University, Dr. Weart instructed at West Virginia University in pharmacy and family medicine.

Dr. Weart has more than 100 publications and he has given scores of lectures to numerous professional groups and societies. He has received outstanding teacher awards at both West Virginia University and MUSC and has been named Hospital Pharmacist of the Year in both South Carolina and West Virginia. In 1991, Dr. Weart was among the first pharmacists to become a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist. Dr. Weart was named a Primary Care Policy Fellow for 1999 by the U.S. Public Health Service and he was honored by the Alumni Association of the MUSC College of Pharmacy as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2002. He also received the Bowl of Hygeia Award from the SC Pharmacy Association in 2003 for outstanding service to the community and the profession of pharmacy and the George D. Schwerin Mentor Award, from the South Carolina Society of Health System Pharmacists in 2004.

In 2008 the MUSC Board of Trustees named Dr. Weart as a Master Teacher. In 2012 he received the Proctor and Gamble National Leadership Award from the Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society. In 2014 he was awarded the Ralph M. Wilkie Distinguished Lifetime Service Award by the SC Pharmacy Association Board of Directors. In 2015 he received the Kenneth Flinchum Distinguished Service Award from the SC Society of Health System Pharmacists.

Dr. Weart served on the Board of Directors of the SC Pharmacists Association and as President and Chairman of the Board for 2010-2011. He served on the Board of Directors for the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy from 2009-2013 and as President of the Waring Library Society for 2014-2015. He serves one of many Hot Dog Ministry volunteers involved with serving the homeless of Charleston.