Faculty
Megan E. Tarr, MD, MS, FACOG, FPMRS
Fellowship Program Director
Urogynecology
Megan Tarr, MD is a urogynecologist who practices at the Atrium Health Women's Care Urogynecology & Pelvic Surgery. She serves as director of research for the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship program. She is double board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. She has also earned diplomat status within the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Tarr earned her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Chicago. She completed her three-year Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at Loyola University, while simultaneously completing a master’s program in clinical research methods.
During her residency and fellowship training, Dr. Tarr received recognition for her teaching and patient care. She was recognized with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award and The Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching, and she has been inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Additionally, she recently received MVP recognition for her excellent patient care from the Chief of Staff of the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Tarr has authored several peer-reviewed articles, four book chapters and has made numerous presentations at national, regional and local meetings. Her research interests include surgeon ergonomics during laparoscopic and robotic surgery, comparison of surgical methods of prolapse correction, patient informed consent and resident/fellow surgical education.
Dr. Tarr has extensive training in laparoscopic, robot-assisted laparoscopic and vaginal and open abdominal approaches to pelvic reconstructive surgery. She also has extensive experience with procedures for urinary and fecal incontinence, mesh-related complications, vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistula, childbirth trauma and sacral neuromodulation. She performs most of her surgeries through minimally invasive approaches, either vaginally, laparoscopically or robotically. She enjoys discussing pelvic floor disorders with patients and takes great pride in excellent clinical care.
Kevin J. E. Stepp, MD, FACOG, FPMRS
Urogynecology
Kevin J.E. Stepp, MD is the division director of urogynecology and minimally invasive gynecologic surgery at Atrium Health. He is also the founding director for the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship program at Atrium Health. He is board certified in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery and a fellow of the America College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Stepp completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Cleveland Clinic. He then completed a three year combined fellowship in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and urogynecology/pelvic reconstructive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
He is actively involved with development of new surgical techniques including single port and micro-laparoscopy, robotics and advanced visualization. In 2008, he was the third gynecologic surgeon in the United States to perform a single port total laparoscopic hysterectomy using modern technology and the first in the world to use a purpose-built multichannel port for hysterectomy. He was awarded the 2011 Surgeon of the Year by Surgical Products Magazine for his work on innovative surgical technologies. In 2015, he was the first in the world to utilize percutaneous micro-laparoscopic instruments for surgical procedures in gynecology - including hysterectomy, endometriois and support procedures. Above all, he is an advocate for performing the least invasive option for patients whether that be vaginal, conventional or robotic laparoscopy, LESS, micro-laparoscopy or a combination of any of the above.
Dr. Stepp speaks internationally on advanced laparoscopic techniques in gynecology and urogynecology and has trained over 500 physicians from over 25 countries. He is honored to have served as the Scientific Program Chair for the 45th AAGL Global Congress on Minimally Invasive Gynecology in 2016 attended by almost 2000 physicians. He has received numerous awards including the American Urogynecologic Society/Society for Gynecologic Surgeons President's Award for Prize Paper on Perioperative Complications in Elderly Urogynecology Patients. He was the first surgeon to receive the AAGL Golden Laparoscope Award twice and the Kurt Semm Award for Best Surgical Video for his educational surgical videos and serves on the Golden Laparoscope Award Review Committee. He is a reviewer for multiple medical journals and actively mentors obstetrics and gynecology residents and fellows during their training.
Michael J. Kennelly, MD, FACS, FPMRS
Urology, Urogynecology
Dr. Michael J. Kennelly is fellowship trained and board-certified urologist with subspecialty certification in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. Academically, he is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Urology at Atrium Health Wake Forest School of Medicine and actively involved in the training of fellows and residents. Administratively, he is Medical Director of the Charlotte Continence Center at Carolinas Medical Center and Director of Urology at Carolinas Rehabilitation Hospital.
His interests are in the medical and surgical treatment of urinary incontinence and other types of voiding dysfunction, neuromodulation, prolapse repair, complex redo female urologic surgery, neuro-urology and fistula repair. He participates in numerous clinical trials and regularly serves as organizer, invited lecturer and visiting professor at local, national, and international events. Dr. Kennelly has authored or coauthored several journal articles, book chapters, and educational videos in the areas of urinary incontinence and neuro-urology and has lectured extensively on these topics. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he is also a member of 10 professional organizations and holds several leadership positions.
He is a Board of Director of the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction and Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals. He is Past President of the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals, Past President of the American Paraplegic Society, Past President of the American Spinal Injury Association, in addition to recent Past Chairman of the Bladder Health Committee for the AUA Urology Care Foundation.
Erinn M. Myers, MD, FACOG
Urogynecology
Erinn Myers, MD is co-director of research for the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship program and surgical director for Carolinas Simulation Center. She serves as clinical assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine Charlotte Campus.
She received her medical degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She completed her residency at Atrium Health and her fellowship in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is board eligible for female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery.
During residency and fellowship, Dr. Myers received many awards including the E. Daniel Griffin, Jr., MD Award for Surgical Excellence, Harold M. Sluder, MD Award for Excellence in Teaching, Golden Tar Heel Teaching Award and Fellows Award for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Myers has presented her research in the field of urogynecology both nationally and internationally. She has published articles in the International Urogynecology Journal, Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Southern Medical Journal in various topics with a focus on patient education and robotic surgery. She is a member of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), the American Association for Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) and the International Urogynecological Association (IUGA).
Dr. Myers specializes in pelvic reconstruction using minimally invasive techniques including native tissue vaginal reconstruction and comprehensive reconstruction using robot-assisted techniques. Her training includes evaluation and treatment of urinary and fecal incontinence, childbirth trauma, pelvic organ prolapse, vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistulae and mesh complications. She is also interested in medical education with a focus on simulation training.
Zahra Bahrani-Mostafavi, PhD, MS
Urogynecology
Zari Mostafavi, PhD, is the Research Associate Director for the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship program. She serves as a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) Research and Innovation (CORI) in the Department of OBGYN at Atrium. She is also an adjunct Assistant professor in OBGYN Department at Wake Forest School of Medicine and in the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte).
Dr. Mostafavi earned her PhD in Health Services Research with a focus on epidemiology from UNC Charlotte, where her dissertation centered on the Prediction analysis of GYN cancer among autoimmune patients using Decision Tree Analytic model. She has extensive training and experience in managing large databases, clinical study design, and large-scale data analysis.
Dr. Mostafavi has a longstanding commitment to women's health research. Previously, she collaborated with the OBGYN department at Carolinas Healthcare Systems on a variety of research projects, particularly those focused on the molecular aspects of HPV and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. At her position, in collaboration with UNC Charlotte Departments of Biology and Computer Science, she studied the genomics and proteomics aspects of ovarian cancer toward multiple PhD students’ theses, resulting in many peer-reviewed publications. During her master’s studies, she was an USDA Fellow, specializing in monoclonal antibody production and ELISA techniques, and was among the pioneers in early molecular biology methodologies.
Prior to her current position, she was a faculty member at the Queens University of Charlotte and UNC Charlotte Department of Biology – where she taught General Biology, Microbiology, and the Principles of Health and Disease to pre-health students. She also supervised data-driven research and student capstone projects. Much of her work involved exploring the role of disparities and socioeconomic status variables in relation to GYN cancers and women's health.
Currently, Dr. Mostafavi’s research focuses on using epidemiological approaches to investigate the Pelvic Floor Disorders’ etiology and treatment management. She is a member of both the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS).
Baharak Moshiree, MD, MS-CI
Gastroenterology
Baha Moshiree MD, MS-CI is professor of medicine and director of motility in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Atrium Health.
She has previously completed subspecialty training in gastroenterology at the University of Florida and received a master’s degree in clinical investigation with a focus in functional and motility disorders during fellowship training on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 grant. She also co-directed the Pelvic Floor Center at the University of Florida along with a colorectal surgery colleague and had funding from the Dean for its formation.
Her specific expertise is in the diagnosis and management of patients with chronic gastrointestinal illnesses such as complex esophageal disorders, gastroparesis, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and constipation. Her research has focused on the multidimensional pathophysiology of IBS and pain mechanisms in functional bowel disorders applying mindfulness-based therapy to patients with IBS and investigating biomarkers for this debilitating disorder. She receives grant support from the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation investigating targeted treatments for the GI symptoms in patients with CF and is the principal investigator of a multi-national CF study called GALAXY studying the prevalence of GI symptoms including constipation in CF. Other research roles have involved use of the wireless motility capsule for investigating gastroparesis and slow transit constipation for the diagnosis of upper and lower GI symptoms. This work has been presented at Digestive Diseases Week, at the Federation of Neurogastroenterology and Motility Meeting in Amsterdam and at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Meeting.
Baha is a fellow of ACG, newly elected to the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society’s Council and a research fellow of the AGA. She also has NIH funding and is a Co-PI on an R21 grant evaluating GI dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Moshiree is on the ACG’s Guidelines Committee for IBS.