Gastroenterologist, Nurse practitioner join Beaufort Memorial

To address the shortage of digestive health services for residents of Beaufort County and beyond, Beaufort Memorial has added two new board-certified providers to its team.

Michael Sciarra, D.O., a gastroenterologist, and Marie Wilkinson, FNPBC, a nurse practitioner, will see patients by appointment at Beaufort Memorial Lowcountry Medical Group Specialty Care in both Beaufort and Okatie. Dedicated to preventing, diagnosing and treating disorders of the digestive system and associated organs, Sciarra brings widely ranging expertise to the practice of gastroenterology. Fellowship trained, he specializes in performing routine and complex GI procedures as well as in treating chronic and acute GI disease.

Sciarra, who was born, raised, educated and trained as a physician in New Jersey, also had practiced in the state – 15 miles from where he grew up –for the entirety of his medical career before coming to the Lowcountry.

In private practice at Riverview Gastroenterology in Edgewater since 1997, he was on the medical staff at three nearby medical centers; the director of the gastroenterology fellowship program at Hackensack Meridian/ Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen and Hackensack; and an associate professor at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City.

Sciarra earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine (now known as Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine) in New Brunswick, then completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Newark.

Wilkinson comes with in-depth experience in the provision of urgent and emergency care. At Lowcountry Medical’s gastroenterology practice, she works to promote patients’ digestive health, assisting its board-certified gastroenterologists and advanced practice providers with clinical assessment and pre- and post-operative care.

Most recently, she served as a nurse practitioner at Tampa General Hospital Urgent Care in Florida and assisted in the opening of the Clinical Decision Unit in TGH’s emergency department, overseeing care for patients who were not yet ready for transfer or discharge.

The Delaware native holds both a Master of Science in Nursing with a family nurse practitioner specialty and a Bachelor of

Science in Nursing from the University of Delaware in Newark.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Sciarra and Ms. Wilkinson to our medical staff,” said Russell Baxley, president and CEO at Beaufort Memorial. “As members of our gastroenterology clinical team, the two will not only provide patients with expert care, but also help us to meet the area’s critical need for additional GI services.”

Sciarra and Wilkinson join board-certified gastroenterologists John Crisologo, M.D. and Richard Stewart, D.O., board-certified physician assistants Kristen Johnson and Kimberly Thorpe, and board-certified nurse practitioner Kimberly Stockstill at the practice.

Beaufort Memorial Lowcountry Medical Group Specialty Care is located at 300 Midtown Drive in Beaufort and Beaufort Memorial Okatie Medical Pavilion, 122 Okatie Center Blvd. North in Okatie. For more information or to make an appointment, call 843-770-4588.