Board Certified, Fellowship-Trained Interventional Cardiologist Joins Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists

To further expand and enhance cardiac care for Lowcountry residents, Beaufort Memorial has added an experienced physician to the team at Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists.

Board-certified in Internal Medicine and fellowship-trained in Cardiovascular Disease as well as Interventional Cardiology, Dr. Francis O’Neill brings his background with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists where he, alongside the practice’s other board-certified providers, will diagnose and treat patients with cardiovascular conditions. In addition to seeing patients in both the practice’s Beaufort and Okatie offices, Dr. O’Neill will perform cardiac catheterization procedures in the newly renovated cath lab at Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s main campus.

"Dr. O'Neill will be a fantastic addition to our team of skilled cardiologists at Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists," said Beaufort Memorial President and CEO Russell Baxley. "His experience in compassionate, patient-forward cardiac care will truly be a benefit for patients here in the Lowcountry."

The New York native joins Beaufort Memorial from his role as an interventional cardiologist and Director of both Cardiac Catheterization and Cardiac Critical Care at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y. He had hospital privileges at Northshore University Hospital, South Shore University Hospital, Huntington Hospital, LIJ, Peconic Bay and Mather Hospitals, and completed rigorous training in coronary interventions at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. Having performed over 1,000 coronary procedures, his focus is interventional cardiology – but his diverse experience will bring specialized, high-quality care in the areas of heart failure, hypertension, pacemaker and defibrillator management, coronary disease, pulmonary embolism, cardiogenic shock, valve disease and arrhythmia management.

Dr. O'Neill describes always having an interest in medicine and felt drawn to a career where he could help. That interest developed further when his father passed away from cancer when he was 13 years old.

While attending medical school, he discovered an aptitude for cardiology.

"Once you find something you’ve got a knack for, you tend to fall in love with it, too," he said, which led to honing this skill with over a decade of training.

Dr. O'Neill's rural upbringing on a dairy farm in upstate New York is one of the factors that attracted him to Beaufort; he and his wife, Rita, wanted their children to grow up in a smaller community. The desire for connection drives his philosophy of care, too.

"I look at each of my patients as a whole person and treat them like I would treat my family,” Dr. O’Neill said. “Their care is not a transaction; it’s a conversation; I'm going to listen."

At the practice, Dr. O'Neill joins board-certified cardiologists Drs. Stephen G. Fedec and Stuart Smalheiser, as well as physician assistant Tara Kay and nurse practitioner Taylor Robinson.

Beaufort Memorial Heart Specialists is located in Beaufort at 300 Midtown Drive and in Okatie at the Okatie Medical Pavilion (122 Okatie Center Blvd. North, Suite 300).

To schedule an appointment with Dr. O'Neill or one of Beaufort Memorial's heart care specialists, call (843) 770-4550.