VCU news

By Stephanie Sulmer
Sheltering Arms Marketing & Public Relations

Sheltering Arms Institute — a collaboration between Sheltering Arms Hospital and VCU Health — announced Tuesday the appointment of Richard Kunz, M.D., as chief medical officer. Kunz currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. He is also the medical transitional team leader on the Sheltering Arms Institute project. 

Kunz earned his bachelor of science in psychobiology and a master’s degree in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Southern California. He holds his doctorate of medicine from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he completed a clinical fellowship in brain injury rehabilitation.

“We are confident that Dr. Kunz will successfully lead the continued development of a transdisciplinary rehabilitation team that delivers on our vision to reinvent rehabilitation for a life beyond limits,” said Alan Lombardo, CEO of Sheltering Arms Institute. “His leadership experience in medicine, hospital operations and administration will be valuable assets. Additionally, his enthusiasm for advancing person-centered care and elevating the quality of rehabilitation care will play a leading role for the organization.”

Scheduled to open next summer, the rehabilitation facility is under construction on 46 acres in the West Creek Medical Park off Broad Street Road in Goochland County. The joint venture combines the strengths of both organizations to provide care for individuals who have survived strokes, spinal cord injuries or brain injuries, as well as those in need of general rehabilitation for various neurological diseases and disorders.

Sheltering Arms and VCU Health will consolidate several of their locations to create one 114-bed hospital. Sheltering Arms Institute will combine 68 beds from Sheltering Arms’ inpatient hospitals in Midlothian and Mechanicsville with 46 beds from VCU Medical Center in downtown Richmond. All outpatient services for both organizations will operate separately into the foreseeable future.

For more information, visit www.shelteringarmsinstitute.com.