VCU Medical Center to Celebrate Opening of the Baird Vascular Institute

By Sathya Achia Abraham

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center this week will celebrate the opening of the Baird Vascular Institute, which will offer patients diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease and other conditions at one convenient location in Richmond’s near West End.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place Thursday, Oct. 27, at 4 p.m. at the VCU Baird Vascular Institute, 205 N. Hamilton St., Richmond.

In addition to remarks from VCU and center officials, the ceremony will include tours of the center.

Interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons at the Baird Vascular Center offer a multidisciplinary approach to vascular disease. The center offers patients diagnosis and treatment of peripheral vascular disease, renovascular disease, carotid disease, aortic aneurysms, varicose veins, uterine fibroids and vertebral body compression fractures. Placement of portacaths and other catheters, and an array of cosmetic procedures will also be offered.

The project was made possible through a donation from Jane B. Baird Hyde, who bequeathed the building and land to VCU in memory of her late husband, Charles L. Baird, Jr. M.D., who passed away in 2008. Baird was a pioneering cardiologist and the founder and director of the Virginia Heart Institute, which was previously located in the North Hamilton Street building. It was one of the nation’s first licensed outpatient cardiac hospitals. In 1972 Baird was the first cardiologist to perform cardiac catheterization in an outpatient setting.

For more information contact Geoff Chestnut at 828-4177 or visit www.vcuvascular.com.