Experienced OBGYN, Nurse Practitioner Join Beaufort Memorial Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialists
October 28, 2024
To enhance and expand access to women’s health care for Lowcountry residents, Beaufort Memorial has added obstetrician and gynecologist Curtis J. Elam, M.D., FACOG, and nurse practitioner Melissa Mesenburg, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, to Beaufort Memorial Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialists. The two board-certified providers will see patients in the practice’s locations in both Beaufort and Okatie.
Throughout his decades-long career, Elam has gathered expertise in general, routine and specialized obstetrical and gynecological care for women at all stages of life (menopause, prenatal and high-risk obstetrics and family planning), and has an extensive background in laparoscopic and robotic surgeries, including pelvic floor reconstruction and urogynecological treatment of stress urinary incontinence with either slings or sutures.
Elam earned his medical degree from the University of Tennessee and completed his residency at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. He knew from a young age that he wanted to go into medicine, and after his time in the active-duty U.S. Naval Reserve – working as both a battalion and regimental surgeon with the Marines – he found obstetrics and gynecology to be a good fit and has been an OBGYN since 1992. He says he enjoys both the surgical aspect of OBGYN care and the opportunity it offers to maintain long-term relationships with his patients, treating them the way he’d want his own wife, daughter and granddaughters to be treated.
He's joining Beaufort Memorial from a position as staff physician and OBGYN department head at the Clyburn Center for Primary Care, as well as OBGYN staff physician at Aiken Regional Medical Center, both located in Aiken, S.C.
Mesenburg will be assisting the practice’s board-certified physicians during surgical procedures, in addition to offering widely ranging OBGYN care to patients in the practice’s Beaufort and Okatie offices. She graduated with a Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner from The Medical University of South Carolina in 2020, having focused her doctoral thesis on improving women’s health through educational initiatives.
An Ohio native, she worked as a registered nurse for 14 years, earning a position as a postpartum nurse in the Beaufort Memorial Collins Birthing Center in 2014. There, she grew to love women’s health, driving her decision to go back to school to earn her doctorate. After graduating from MUSC with her doctorate, she worked for four years in the Beaufort area as a family nurse practitioner and was most recently the director of clinical operations at Friends of Caroline Hospice in Ridgeland, S.C.
“Dr. Elam and Mrs. Mesenburg will be fantastic additions to the Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialists team,” said Russell Baxley, Beaufort Memorial president and CEO. “Given their wide-ranging experience and commitment to compassionate care, patients will feel well cared for at the practice.”
At Beaufort Memorial Obstetrics & Gynecology Specialists, Elam and Mesenburg join board-certified Drs. Chris Benson, Marlena Masavage and Tiffany Bersani; certified registered nurse practitioner Maggie Bisceglia; certified physician assistant Peyton Erb McManus; and certified nurse-midwife Catherine Tambroni-Parker.
With locations in the Beaufort Medical Plaza, at 989 Ribaut Road in Beaufort, and Okatie Medical Pavilion, at 122 Okatie Center Boulevard North, the practice provides the full range of women’s health services, including comprehensive obstetrical and gynecological care for patients at every stage of their lives. The latest screening and diagnostic technologies, among them state-of-the art digital ultrasound, are available in both locations.
To schedule an appointment with Elam, Mesenburg or any of the practice providers, call 843-522-7820.