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Meet the President

Under President David J. Cole’s visionary leadership, MUSC is becoming a preeminent and innovative academic health system. Dr. Cole’s drive to transform health care, research and education elevates innovation to the center of MUSC’s culture and purpose.

Dr. Cole has guided MUSC’s evolution into a statewide health system, advanced one of the nation’s most sophisticated telehealth networks, secured record research funding and championed major infrastructure initiatives – all while recognizing and elevating the people who bring MUSC’s mission and values to life each day. As a physician-scientist and active surgical oncologist, Dr. Cole continues to provide day-to-day patient care while actively shaping MUSC’s future with a clear, forward-looking vision.

Since he was named MUSC’s seventh president in 2014, MUSC has experienced significant growth, with a growing annual budget of $8.9 billion and nearly 1,050 statewide care locations. More than 35,000 MUSC family members, including world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, students, affiliates and care team members, who deliver and support leading-edge education, groundbreaking research and trailblazing patient care throughout the state. As the only comprehensive academic health system in South Carolina, MUSC has been ranked the “Best Hospital” in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report for 11 years running.

Other transformational highlights under the president’s leadership include:

  • Expanding MUSC into a statewide health system through strategic partnerships, acquisitions and affiliations, MUSC currently delivers care in all 46 counties, with its 18 hospitals (approximately 2,800 beds), five additional hospital locations in development, 464 telehealth sites with connectivity to patients’ homes and 1,046 care locations statewide.
  • Establishing access to care in rural and underserved counties across the state of South Carolina (Williamsburg, Chester, Marion, Kershaw, Hampton), supporting new models of delivery and capability for community hospitals.
  • Constructing and opening the Jean and Hugh K. Leatherman Behavioral Care Pavilion in Florence, funded through public and private partnerships.
  • Achieving national leadership in telehealth services, including designation as one of only two Telehealth Centers of Excellence in the United States.
  • Securing record research funding, positioning MUSC as the leading research university in South Carolina and among the top 20% of U.S. institutions in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
  • Constructing and opening the state-of-the-art MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion, supported by a record-breaking $150 million-dollar fundraising effort.
  • Constructing and opening the state-of-the-art MUSC Black River Medical Center in the Williamsburg/Lake City region, the first new rural hospital constructed in South Carolina in decades and enabled by state, federal and local philanthropic support.
  • Establishing global partnerships with national and international leaders in their fields to include Siemens Healthineers and Medtronic, two of the largest international leaders in the medical device field, to advance health care transformation and economic development.
  • Spearheading the Charleston Medical District Greenway in partnership with the City of Charleston, Roper Hospital and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center to address common issues such as flood mitigation and the use of green space.

Since joining MUSC in 1994, Dr. Cole has served in numerous institutional and national leadership positions, rising to his appointment as president of MUSC. These included serving as chairman of the MUSC Department of Surgery, president of MUSC Physicians, president of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and a member of an NIH study section for more than a decade.

In addition to his clinical expertise as a nationally recognized surgical oncologist, Dr. Cole brings a strong research background in tumor immunology. With more than 17 years of continuous NIH funding, he initiated and helped to build MUSC’s highly regarded immunology research program.

The president places a strong emphasis on staying closely connected to MUSC’s academic, clinical and research leadership teams, while fostering innovation across the institution and empowering team members to lead from where they are. Grounded in the belief that institutional values – compassion, collaboration, integrity, respect and innovation – truly matter, he champions both the successes and lessons learned from across the institution.

Looking ahead, President Cole has set a vision for MUSC to become a top 20 academic health system nationally while elevating South Carolina to top 20 in the nation for health outcomes. He often quotes Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

A New Mexico native, President Cole attended New Mexico State University, was a Rhodes scholarship finalist and earned his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medicine (formerly known as Cornell University Medical College) in New York City, New York. He completed his surgical residency at Emory University-affiliated hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, and his fellowship in the surgical oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health.

President Cole is an Eagle Scout. He enjoys the outdoors, cycling and woodworking. His favorite pastime is spending time with his wife, Kathy, their three adult children and their growing families – especially his grandchildren – as well as their two dogs.