President's Council

Stuart is the Chief Executive Officer of the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, he worked as an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) for King Pine Investments and Commonfund. As an OCIO, Stuart served non-profit organizations in the U.S. and Canada, which included universities, colleges, hospital and healthcare foundations, community foundations, and other religious and cultural institutions.

Earlier in his career, Stuart was the Chief Investment Officer for a group providing customized portfolios of hedge funds to Citi’s Private Bank clients. Stuart also worked at SEI Investments and Morgan Stanley. He has a BA in Economics from Brigham Young University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Stewart Mixon serves as the Interim Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). In this role, he oversees the university’s capital and operating budget, as well as key areas including enterprise engineering and facilities, university finance, university operations, strategic analytics, and process improvement. He leads a team of more than 1,000 employees, ensuring strong operational support for MUSC’s academic, research, and clinical missions. Stewart also provides leadership in shaping short- and long-term financial strategies and directs campus planning and construction efforts in collaboration with local and state agencies.

Since 2002, Stewart has also served as Chief Operations Officer at MUSC, where he oversees Business Operations to include Parking and Transportation, Human Resources, Public Safety, and Workplace Health and Safety.

Before joining MUSC, Stewart held human resources leadership positions at the University of Florida and East Carolina University. He is a past president of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), which represents more than 6,300 HR professionals at over 1,600 institutions, and has been actively involved with the organization since 1996. He is also a long-standing member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Dr. Patrick J. Cawley is the Chief Executive Officer of MUSC Health and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs of the Medical University of South Carolina. In this role, he oversees all clinical matters as they relate to MUSC.

During his leadership, MUSC has significantly expanded its clinical enterprise with a new Children's Hospital, a regional health network, multiple ambulatory sites, development of additional clinical affiliates, and numerous novel joint ventures. Additionally, MUSC has become a national leader in telehealth and has continued as South Carolina's #1 hospital/health system per US News and World Report. Under Dr. Cawley's leadership, MUSC continues to receive a number of quality awards across all domains of quality: safety, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, timeliness, and patient centeredness.

Previously, he served as the chief medical officer of MUSC Medical Center. In that role he was responsible for the quality and safety of all patient care programs as well as direct oversight of clinical service lines. He has led MUSC's improvement transformation in quality and patient safety, which was recognized by the University Healthsystem Consortium in 2007 and again in 2012 by awarding the coveted Rising Star honor to MUSC.

Dr. Cawley is a certified physician executive through the American College of Physician Executives and a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is a Fellow in the Liberty Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He has been named one of America's Best Doctors. He has also been awarded the Master of Hospital Medicine from the Society of Hospital Medicine.

Dr. Cawley is a Past-President of the Society of Hospital Medicine. He is actively involved in leadership roles in the American Hospital Association, the South Carolina Hospital Association, America's Essential Hospitals, Vizient, and the health care collaborative, Initiant.

Dr. Cawley graduated from the University of Scranton. He earned his medical degree from Georgetown University before completing an internal medicine residency at Duke University. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is board certified in internal medicine with focused recognition in hospital medicine.

Michael A. de Arellano, Ph.D., serves as chief organizational excellence officer for the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and MUSC Health and leads the Division of Organizational Engagement and Excellence. Under his leadership, the Division of Organizational Engagement and Excellence spearheads strategic initiatives designed to ensure every member of MUSC feels welcomed, included, and engaged—fostering a genuine sense of belonging across the MUSC community. He and his team partner with leaders across the academic health system to increase health care access and quality and to improve health outcomes for all South Carolinians.

De Arellano came to MUSC in 1995, and he joined the faculty in 1998 as a clinical psychologist at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His health disparities work at the NCVC has focused on increasing access to evidence-based mental health services for trauma-exposed youth and families from traditionally underserved backgrounds through a variety of in-person (e.g., home-based, school-based) and virtual (e.g., telehealth) programs. In addition, he currently provides training and technical assistance to communities affected by mass violence, in his role in the National Mass Violence Center. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Miami, and he earned his master's and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He interned and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in traumatic stress at the NCVC at MUSC.

As the General Counsel for the Medical University of South Carolina, Ms. Drachman serves as the chief legal officer for MUSC and is responsible for the legal affairs of the academic, research and clinical components of the University and Hospital Authority. Prior to her appointment as General Counsel in 2012, Ms. Drachman served as the Director of Legal Affairs and Associate General Counsel for Healthcare with the Medical University Hospital Authority. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Healthcare Leadership and Management of the College of Health Professions at MUSC since 1999.Ms. Drachman legal practice focuses primarily on governance, higher education and health law issues.

Ms. Drachman has a Bachelor's degree in history and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a law degree from the University of South Carolina, and a Master's degree in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.

As an epileptologist, Dr. Edwards is a member of the South Carolina Neurological Association, the American Epilepsy Society, the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society. He has served on the scientific committee of several organizations, including the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, and has been a board member and examiner for the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology and for ABRET. He recently served as president of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society. Dr. Edwards has won numerous awards for teaching, research and patient advocacy.

Jesse Goodwin has spent more than a decade engaged in innovation across a broad range of medical therapies, with applications in academia and industry. She has a demonstrated track record for driving improved outcome metrics. Under her leadership, the Office of Innovation serves as a catalyst for innovations that ultimately create value for the MUSC enterprise, patients, and students.

The office is charged with providing leadership and coordination of a robust innovation ecosystem supporting both intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship across the tripartite mission. Ultimately, the office aims to build a nationally recognized culture and capacity for innovation and facilitate the development of processes, technologies and strategies that produce real-world beneficial impact for those that MUSC serves.

Prior to accepting the role of chief innovation officer at MUSC, Goodwin was vice president of development for the Zucker Institute for Applied Neurosciences. Goodwin also served as the deputy director for the MUSC Foundation for Research Development, the university's technology transfer office.

Prior to joining MUSC, Goodwin was the director of the medical device practice of a Boston-based intellectual property consulting firm. Goodwin received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Stony Brook University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Harvard-MIT HST program.

Dr. Hong is the Chief Physician Executive for MUSC Physicians and MUSC Health. In this position, he oversees the practice plan and serves as a senior leader in the health system. Hong is a leading authority on concussions, cardiac issues in athletes, overuse injuries and sports-injury prevention and has worked for decades as a team physician. He comes to MUSC from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he was an endowed chair and professor in the Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine. He also served as chief of the division of primary care sports medicine, chair of the Drexel University Physician Board and associate dean for primary care and community health.

As vice president for research, Dr. Timothy Stemmler serves as MUSC's chief scientific officer, overseeing all its associated divisions, which include responsibility for accreditation and regulatory affairs, university-wide promotion of research across all colleges and centers, representing the president and provost on internal and external research matters, and identifying institutional research strategies and benchmarks in relation to the MUSC strategic plan.

Dr. Stemmler received his graduate degree in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Michigan under the supervision of Dr. James Penner-Hahn and completed his NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah under the supervision of Dr. Wesley Sundquist. Prior to joining MUSC, he spent over 25 years at Wayne State University, where he held leadership roles including interim vice president for research, associate dean of the graduate school, and associate dean for research in the college of pharmacy and health sciences.

Dr. Stemmler's research is internationally recognized, particularly his work on iron-sulfur biosynthesis to advance the understanding of protein functional deficiencies in the genetic disease Friedreich's ataxia. His interdisciplinary approach has combined biochemical, biophysical, and structural tools, contributing significantly to scientific discovery and the training of future research leaders.

With consistent funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association, Dr. Stemmler's career reflects a substantial and lasting impact on the scientific community. His research collaborations span over 60 research groups worldwide, underscoring his ability to build meaningful partnerships and foster innovation across disciplines.

Terrence E. "Terry" Steyer, M.D., is a graduate of Allegheny College (BS in Mathematics) and Case Western Reserve University (MD). He completed his family medicine residency training at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Michigan. Dr. Steyer began his academic career at the Medical University of South Carolina, serving as the director of the Trident – MUSC Transitional Year Residency and director of a medical school course on evidence-based medicine.

In 2009, he was recruited to the Medical College of Georgia – University of Georgia Medical Partnership where he served as the founding chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences. In this role, Dr. Steyer developed and managed the third- and fourth-year medical school curriculum for a new branch campus of the Medical College of Georgia.

Dr. Steyer was recruited back to MUSC in 2014 to serve as chair of the Department of Family Medicine and was named the first Gregory-Chandler Endowed Chair in Family Medicine in 2015. In 2017, he was named chief of the Primary Care Integrated Center for Clinical Excellence (ICCE) and President of Carolina Family Care. In these roles, Dr. Steyer has served as leader of primary care efforts across MUSC Health. In 2021, he was elected by his peers to serve as president of MUSC Physicians, the faculty group practice. He was appointed Interim Dean of the College of Medicine in April of 2022 and, following a national search, was elected Dean of the College of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs by the MUSC Board of Trustees in December of 2022.

Dr. Steyer is an active member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, for which he served as National President 2009-10. He is an active researcher in the area of health care policy and leadership development for health care professionals. His current work includes research on the evolution of primary care medicine at MUSC.

He is married to Kelly Clifton Steyer, an RN, and has two college-aged sons.

Mark has over 25 years of governmental and lobbying experience, having worked for the SC Senate, SC Governor's Office, and US Senate. He came to MUSC in 2007 from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, where he served as a lobbyist. He was elected by MUSC's Board of Trustees in 2014 to serve as its Secretary and in 2022 was appointed to the position of Senior Advisor to the Board of Trustees. During his tenure at MUSC, Mark has secured many appropriations for MUSC, including funding for a statewide telehealth network and for the Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital.

Mark holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of South Carolina. A native of Chapin, SC, Mark and his wife Lisa live in Columbia with their three children.

Suzanne Thomas, Ph.D., is the interim executive vice president for Academic Affairs and provost of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Serving as MUSC's chief academic officer, Dr. Thomas oversees MUSC's academic enterprise through the Office of the Provost, providing collaborative leadership and a forward-thinking approach while guiding six colleges (Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy) and numerous centers and offices that drive education, research, and innovation. Dr. Thomas works closely with leadership, faculty, staff, and students to foster an environment of interdisciplinary teamwork and support to set academic priorities and pursue strategic initiatives that move forward MUSC's education and research missions. In the president's absence, the provost acts as the Chief Executive Officer for MUSC.

Dr. Thomas received her bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and her doctorate in Experimental Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of South Carolina. She is a graduate of the Harvard Leadership Development Institute.