The FitMed Partners team

Bright McConnell, III, MD: founding physician

Dr. McConnell is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with subspecialty expertise in sports medicine and human performance. He has completed physician training and certification in age management medicine, jointly sponsored by Cenegenics Education and Research Foundation (CERF) and the Foundation for Care Management (FCM). He is also a certified clinical densitometrist.

Dr. McConnell graduated from Davidson College and then attended the Medical College of Georgia, receiving his medical degree in 1979. He completed his orthopedic residency training at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. In his senior year of training, he completed a four-month clinical clerkship at a variety of medical centers in Europe. Following this, he served as a sports medicine fellow at the well known Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic, participating in the care of the Los Angeles Rams, Lakers, Dodgers, and Kings.

Dr. McConnell has maintained a busy orthopedic and sports medicine practice in Charleston, SC, since 1985 and served as team physician to the College of Charleston athletic teams until 2003. He holds a clinical faculty position at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. McConnell has served as South Carolina's representative to the Council of Delegates in the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine. He was recently reelected and has been repeatedly listed in The Best Doctors in America. His professional memberships include the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Age Management Medical Group, the International Society of Clinical Densitometry, the American Medical Association, and numerous state and local medical associations.

Eileen Stellefson Myers, MPH, RD, LDN, FADA: nutrition & wellness consultant

Eileen Myers received her bachelor of science degree in nutrition from Pennsylvania State University and her master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina. She is a Fellow of the American Dietetic Association. A registered dietitian, her work has consistently focused on wellness, weight management, and disordered eating.

Myers is a national and local presenter and author on the use of effective nutrition counseling strategies. She is also the author of a manual for counseling clients with eating disorders titled "Winning the War Within: Nutrition Therapy for Clients with Eating Disorders", which is in its second edition.

Myers founded a successful wellness department at Bon Secours-St. Francis Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. She later served on the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the position of nutrition specialist for the Eating Disorders Program and the associate director of the Weight Management Center before her promotion to provide marketing services to the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry.

Myers is a frequent speaker to sports groups, schools, and community and civic organizations. She is currently the network chair for the Weight Management Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association and writes for American Dietetic Association Practice Group Publications. Myers serves on the Wellness Advisory Board for Culver Academy, a boarding school in Culver, Indiana, and is on the board of directors for the Eating Disorders Coalition of Tennessee.

Anne Ahern Finch: exercise physiologist

Anne Ahern Finch, owner of Anne Finch Endurance Coaching and founder of TEMPO Indoor Cycling and Endurance Training in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., is a certified USA Triathlon coach, a certified wellness coach, and a certified spinning instructor. In these roles, she writes training plans and coaches athletes, including aspiring National Championship triathletes, and provides nutritional counseling to clients with an emphasis on holistic, whole-food based eating. She has also implemented a number of indoor cycling classes, which she instructs each day, and she routinely performs fitness assessments for clients. Additionally, she has served and continues to serve as a personal trainer and fitness coach at Charleston-area athletic clubs.

Finch received her master's degree in biomedical sciences and physiology from the Medical University of South Carolina and her bachelor's degree in biology from the College of Charleston. She is a sponsored Try Sports Elite Triathlon team member and placed in the top three in her age group in all triathlons completed. She is a Sprint, Olympic and Half-Ironman distance competitor.

Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn: registered dietitian

Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn is a registered and licensed dietitian (RD/LDN) and a board certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD). She has practiced privately in both Charleston, S.C., and Memphis, Tenn., since 2000, focusing on sports and exercise nutrition, nutritional management of disordered eating, and weight management.

Caperton-Kilburn, who holds a master's degree in clinical nutrition from the University of Memphis and a bachelor's degree in home economics from the University of Tennessee at Martin, has given numerous presentations over the years and has appeared on television and radio. She routinely speaks to various groups and athletic teams about healthy fueling and fueling for performance. She is also actively involved with the American Dietetic Association serving as public policy coordinator for the Behavioral Health Dietetic Practice Group and currently serves as executive director for the Tennessee Dietetic Association. In 2006, she was chosen as the Emerging Dietetic Leader by both the Tennessee and Memphis Dietetic Associations.

FitMed medical partners

FitMed Partners firmly believes in partnering with primary care physicians, OB/GYNs, pediatricians, and other healthcare professionals to improve the overall health of our clients. We believe it is essential to effectively communicate with your primary caregivers, both to receive pertinent health information and to make your other physicians aware of any programs or treatment that may have an impact on your overall health program.

FitMed also partners with other healthcare organizations for specific services:

HMR at Home®: Health Management Resources®

We've selected HMR as our weight loss and weight management program partner. As a privately owned national healthcare company specializing in weight loss and management, HMR enables us to offer sensible, natural, healthy, and successful programs to lose weight.

Founded in 1983 by Lawrence T. P. Stifler, Ph.D., HMR is a leading provider of medically based weight loss and management programs, in clinics, hospitals, and major medical centers throughout the country. HMR at Home is the home-based program we utilize to enable individuals to benefit from the HMR program, with phone and email support provided by clinical professionals.

The HMR program is based on the most current scientific research in the medical, nutritional, and behavioral literature along with more than 25 years of data from HMR weight loss programs. HMR works with a number of well known and respected university researchers in the field of weight management. Through this research-based approach, HMR patients are able to participate in the most successful treatment available.

Quest Diagnostics: Charleston, SC diagnostic testing

As the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, Quest Diagnostics is leading the charge to raise the quality of healthcare delivery in the United States. Quest Diagnostics has a heritage of focusing on quality, and the Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute was the first laboratory in North America to achieve ISO 9001 Certification in 1998. FitMed Partners has chosen Quest Diagnostics to provide its laboratory testing services, providing our clients with five convenient patient service centers in the greater Charleston area.