Dr. Crumbley is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and a graduate of Davidson College and Washington University school of Medicine.  He received postgraduate training in General Surgery at Duke University and, after serving on active duty in the US Army in Germany and Turkey, at the University of Minnesota.  While at Minnesota he did research in cardiac diastolic mechanics and cardiac transplantation.  Cardiothoracic Surgical and Cardiac Transplant fellowships were also at Minnesota.

In 1986 he joined the surgical faculty of the Medical University and performed the first heart transplant in South Carolina in 1987. The Cardiac Transplant Program has grown from one surgeon and one nurse coordinator to three surgeons, four heart failure/transplant cardiologists, and six nurse coordinators. Approximately 475 transplants have been performed during the past two decades.

Besides cardiac transplantation, Dr. Crumbley’s other interests are mechanical cardiopulmonary support including ventricular assist devices (VADs) and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), the surgical treatment of pericardial disease, alternative anticoagulation for cardiopulmonary bypass and surgical critical care.