Tassia Kostopoulos, MD

Biography

Dr. Tassia Kostopoulos knows developing trust with patients is essential, and she starts to build that rapport right after she meets them.

Kostopoulos, a dermatologist at VCU Health, wants her patients to know they are in good hands, and that she will deliver the best possible skin care.

“Skin cancer can be a scary diagnosis. I reassure my patients that they are in very capable hands. It's extremely important to me to provide the best possible care,” Kostopoulos says. “At the end of the day, I am a wife, mom, daughter and granddaughter, and it is my goal to treat patients as if they were part of my family.”

Though she treats general skin, nail and hair conditions, Kostopoulos is a member of VCU Health’s high-risk skin cancer team, where she screens and treats patients facing greater risk of developing aggressive forms of skin cancer. That includes people with fair skin, farmers who are out in the sun all day and patients whose immune system has been compromised by an organ transplant.

She also performs Mohs micrographic skin cancer surgery, a bedside procedure that removes cancerous tissue in a way that preserves the maximum possible amount of normal skin. Kostopoulos takes a leading role in every step of the procedure: as the dermatologist who clinically evaluates the skin cancer and determines whether surgery is appropriate; as the surgeon who removes the cancer; as the dermatopathologist who evaluates the tissue under the microscope after it has been processed in VCU’s in-office lab; and as the reconstructivist who repairs the cancer-free area of skin to preserve the best aesthetic outcome possible.

And treating skin cancer helps when you are affiliated with Massey Cancer Center, the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center – among the top 4 percent in the nation. VCU Health was the first in the Richmond region to offer Mohs surgery, with a team that includes all levels of specialized care. And Massey offers a group of subspecialized experts focused on the treatment of melanoma. 

Kostopoulos is also fluent in Spanish, and says one of the most gratifying parts of her job is caring for Hispanic patients who normally wouldn’t be able to communicate directly with their dermatologist. “I think it's also important to understand skin disease can present itself differently on people of different ethnicities," she says. “Dermatologists must be able to answer questions when meeting with their diverse patients because they are treating patients with an array of health issues, ages and cultures.”