About the department
The Department of Anesthesiology at VCU School of Medicine provides more than 26,000 anesthetics per year and provides critical care services in cardiothoracic, neuroscience and surgery/trauma ICUs, and at a long-term acute care facility in the community.
For more than 50 years, we’ve trained experts in the field of anesthesiology through research, didactic teaching and complex clinical experiences. Our residency program is set apart from others by our clear vision of the anesthesiologist of the future.
Our department’s focus continues to be on innovative teaching and patient care, with particular emphasis on patient safety, quality improvement and leadership in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) movement.
Educational programs
In addition to our core residency program in anesthesiology, our department offers fellowships in adult cardiology anesthesiology, and regional anesthesiology and acute pain. We collaborate with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in offering a fellowship in chronic pain medicine.
Our faculty
Our faculty are committed to excellent patient care, as well as to being leaders, mentors and extraordinary teachers. They have longstanding dedicated relationships with the surgeons and other departments at VCU Health and the community. Our team-care model of Anesthesiologists working with CRNAs and Residents provides a strong setting, offering the best support for our patients.
Our faculty are well-connected to the greater community of physicians. Several of our faculty have led or currently serve as leaders of national and statewide medical societies. We have been leaders in the ERAS movement in our organization and have supported the movement nationally and abroad. Our faculty has served on the editorial boards of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. One of the members of the department has served as a commissioner for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS.)
Our history
Our academic medical center was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College. We were soon renamed the Medical College of Virginia. In 1848, anesthesia was introduced in Virginia by Dr. Charles Bell Gibson, a member of our faculty. MCV first became a state-supported institution in 1860, and we were the only medical school within the Confederacy to remain open throughout the Civil War. In 1968, MCV and Richmond Professional Institute merged to become VCU.
The VCU School of Medicine is now home to roughly 850 medical students, 800 house officers and 600 faculty members. Our department has a long history of training anesthesiology residents, dating back to the 1950s. We have played an integral role through the years in the advancement of patient safety, cardiac transplant, solid organ transplant and neurosurgery, to name a few areas.
Learn more about the School of Medicine’s history
About VCU Health
The VCU Health System is an urban, comprehensive academic medical center. We are a Level I Trauma Center and one of the longest established solid organ transplantation programs in the world. We have been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 among all medical centers in Virginia and consistently No. 1 in the Richmond area.
Contact Us
VCU Department of Anesthesiology Office Address and Contact Information
Phone: (804) 828-9160
Fax: (804) 828-8300
Mailing address
PO Box 980695
Richmond, VA 23298-0695
Office location
West Hospital
1200 E. Broad Street
7th Floor, Room 7105