VCU Health recently opened a new liver unit within the Main Hospital facility at the health system’s downtown medical campus. (Photos courtesy VCU Health)
VCU Health has powered up a new liver-care center where it previously operated a now-relocated pediatrics unit at its downtown Richmond campus.
The health system announced this week the opening of a 39-bed, 42,000-square-foot unit focused on liver care in VCU Medical Center’s Main Hospital at 1250 E. Marshall St.
VCU Health spent $38 million to revamp Main Hospital’s seventh floor for the project. The floor was formerly occupied by a pediatrics unit that was moved to the nearby Children’s Hospital of Richmond that was expanded several years ago on the same campus.
“We had an extensive space that we were able to refurbish, and invested some $40 million in this reconstruction that took the space down to its studs,” VCU Health CEO Marlon Levy said during a report to the university’s board of visitors last month. “We are one of the largest liver transplant programs in the world, so really this is a very important addition.”
DPR was the project’s construction manager. HKS designed the project.
Dr. Marlon Levy
The new unit is primarily geared toward providing pre- and post-operative care for patients receiving liver transplants through the Hume-Lee Transplant Center, which is housed in the Main Hospital and also has a presence in other VCU Health facilities.
In addition to private intermediate- and intensive-care rooms, the new unit features a physical therapy room, family spaces, an outdoor garden and offices. Patient rooms feature nature photography from Richmonder Bill Draper.
As part of the project, VCU Health is hiring about 100 new employees to operate the unit. The team is being filled out with nurses, patient-care technicians, business support and other roles, spokeswoman Leigh Farmer said in an email.
VCU Health said the new liver unit comes in response to a nationwide trend of increased liver disease. The health system’s liver program saw an 18% increase in transplanted organs between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The Hume-Lee center performed 189 liver transplants last year.
“I think that we were really intentional about how we built our liver program here,” Dr. David Bruno, the Hume-Lee center director, said in a prepared statement. “We started out trying to serve our community but really what’s happened is that our community has broadened to the region and now we are taking care of patients as far away as California and Hawaii.”
The Hume-Lee center also performs kidney, heart and pancreas transplants. It performed nearly 590 transplants in all during 2024.
The new liver unit was a $38 million project. In addition to dozens of beds, it also includes a physical therapy room and outdoor garden, among other features.
The new liver unit formally opened Tuesday. VCU Health officials held a ribbon-cutting event for the new unit the day before. The VCU Health Board of Directors approved the project’s funding in June 2023.
VCU Health’s downtown campus now has nearly 840 beds, Farmer said.
Elsewhere in the region, VCU Health is eyeing two new-construction projects: a 100,000-square-foot surgical center and office building in Chesterfield, and the Pauley Heart Center Pavilion at the site of the former Pet Dairy facility near The Diamond.
VCU Health recently opened a new liver unit within the Main Hospital facility at the health system’s downtown medical campus. (Photos courtesy VCU Health)
VCU Health has powered up a new liver-care center where it previously operated a now-relocated pediatrics unit at its downtown Richmond campus.
The health system announced this week the opening of a 39-bed, 42,000-square-foot unit focused on liver care in VCU Medical Center’s Main Hospital at 1250 E. Marshall St.
VCU Health spent $38 million to revamp Main Hospital’s seventh floor for the project. The floor was formerly occupied by a pediatrics unit that was moved to the nearby Children’s Hospital of Richmond that was expanded several years ago on the same campus.
“We had an extensive space that we were able to refurbish, and invested some $40 million in this reconstruction that took the space down to its studs,” VCU Health CEO Marlon Levy said during a report to the university’s board of visitors last month. “We are one of the largest liver transplant programs in the world, so really this is a very important addition.”
DPR was the project’s construction manager. HKS designed the project.
Dr. Marlon Levy
The new unit is primarily geared toward providing pre- and post-operative care for patients receiving liver transplants through the Hume-Lee Transplant Center, which is housed in the Main Hospital and also has a presence in other VCU Health facilities.
In addition to private intermediate- and intensive-care rooms, the new unit features a physical therapy room, family spaces, an outdoor garden and offices. Patient rooms feature nature photography from Richmonder Bill Draper.
As part of the project, VCU Health is hiring about 100 new employees to operate the unit. The team is being filled out with nurses, patient-care technicians, business support and other roles, spokeswoman Leigh Farmer said in an email.
VCU Health said the new liver unit comes in response to a nationwide trend of increased liver disease. The health system’s liver program saw an 18% increase in transplanted organs between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The Hume-Lee center performed 189 liver transplants last year.
“I think that we were really intentional about how we built our liver program here,” Dr. David Bruno, the Hume-Lee center director, said in a prepared statement. “We started out trying to serve our community but really what’s happened is that our community has broadened to the region and now we are taking care of patients as far away as California and Hawaii.”
The Hume-Lee center also performs kidney, heart and pancreas transplants. It performed nearly 590 transplants in all during 2024.
The new liver unit was a $38 million project. In addition to dozens of beds, it also includes a physical therapy room and outdoor garden, among other features.
The new liver unit formally opened Tuesday. VCU Health officials held a ribbon-cutting event for the new unit the day before. The VCU Health Board of Directors approved the project’s funding in June 2023.
VCU Health’s downtown campus now has nearly 840 beds, Farmer said.
Elsewhere in the region, VCU Health is eyeing two new-construction projects: a 100,000-square-foot surgical center and office building in Chesterfield, and the Pauley Heart Center Pavilion at the site of the former Pet Dairy facility near The Diamond.