Dr. Heather Evans is a Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair of Veterans Affairs in the Department of Surgery. She serves as the Chief of Surgery at the Ralph H Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Evans is a general surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive hernia (rupture) surgery. She has performed laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs (TEP) since 2009 and now routinely performs robotic-assisted laparoscopic repairs for groin, umbilical and ventral hernias. Dr. Evans' practice includes the care of patients with ventral and incisional hernias that can develop after open abdominal surgery. One of only two surgeons in the Charleston area offering robotic-assisted abdominal wall reconstruction, Dr. Evans also performs open ventral hernia repairs, choosing the best approach based on prior surgery, the size of the hernia, and other conditions. She coaches patients on pre-operative conditioning in order to prepare them for the surgery and its recovery. In some cases, she advises patients on how to manage hernias without surgery. Each patient has their own story, and she considers the unique risks and needs of each person who comes to her clinic. Last year, she was featured on an episode of the Advance with MUSC Health podcast to discuss the different considerations of hernia surgery for women.

Dr. Evans' practice also includes the care of patients with ventral and incisional hernias that can develop after open abdominal surgery. She coaches patients on pre-operative conditioning in order to prepare them for the surgery and its recovery. Dr. Evans offers both open and robotic-assisted ventral hernia repairs, choosing the best approach based on prior surgery, the size of the hernia, and other conditions. In some cases, she advises patients on how to manage hernias without surgery. Each patient has their own story, and she considers the unique risks and needs of each person who comes to her clinic.

The COVID-19 pandemic brings new challenges to, but also new opportunities for the care of surgical patients. Dr. Evans is pleased to offer both new patient consultations and post-surgical visits via telemedicine, providing convenience and additional clinic capacity. The South Carolina Telehealth Alliance recently featured a story about her adoption of video visits (Seeing a doctor without leaving home gets a lot more popular during pandemic). If you are interested in whether remote pre-operative visits are right for you, please contact Dr. Evans' office for more information.

Dr. Evans earned her medical degree at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. She completed a general surgery residency at the University of Virginia and a fellowship in trauma and surgical critical care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle WA, where she worked for 10 years prior to coming to MUSC. In addition to her elective surgery practice, Dr. Evans cares for trauma and surgical emergencies and provides surgical critical care at MUSC's level 1 trauma center in downtown Charleston. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Evans has worked with patients, nurses, doctors, and other researchers to create mobile health solutions to improve the care of surgical site infections (www.mpowercare.org).

Dr. Evans' work has been featured on National Public Radio, in the Seattle Times, the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons, as well as on iHeart Radio and Al Jazeera America. With a grant from the CDC, she studied how patients use their own mobile phones to help surgeons detect and monitor post-operative wound infections. She partnered with MUSC Center for Telehealth on a new remote wound monitoring program for surgical patients, building on the successful MUSC remote patient monitoring system for people with COVID-19.