By Tanner Lambson and Liz Torrey 

What defines a “heart center”? The VCU Health Pauley Heart Center unifies the work of physicians practicing cardiovascular medicine and surgery at VCU Health, as well as their research, education, training and community engagement programs.   

Initially established 1991, VCU Health’s heart center was re-named the Pauley Heart Center in early 2006 in recognition of a $5 million gift from Stan and Dorothy Pauley and the Pauley Family Foundation. At the time, this gift made Pauley one of the few named heart centers in the nation, and the Pauley Family Foundation has continued to provide transformational support to the center in the twenty years since then.  

To celebrate the past twenty years of heart health care, research, education and community engagement at the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center, here are some historical facts you may not know about Virginia’s premier heart hospital.  

20 Facts to Mark 20 Years:  

1. #1 in Virginia and Top 10% in the nation. In US News & World Report’s 2025-2026 “Best Hospitals” survey, VCU Medical Center (where Pauley is headquartered) was the highest scoring hospital in Virginia for cardiology, heart & vascular surgery for the fourth consecutive year, and one of only two hospitals in Virginia rated as "high performing" in these specialties.
    
2. Pauley Heart Center locations and cardiovascular specialties have grown from four to ten across Central Virginia since 2018.  In other words, the center is strengthening access to advanced heart care throughout Central Virginia.
    
3. Our new Reynolds Crossing clinic makes VCU Health one of only a few health systems with a dual-site cardiopulmonary rehab in Virginia, offering both heart and lung services for patients.
    
4. Several of our disease-specific clinics are the only ones in Virginia offering specialized patient care.  For example, Pauley has the only cardiac amyloidosis clinic in Virginia and the only cardio-oncology program in Virginia certified as a Gold Center of Excellence by the International Cardio-Oncology Society.
   
   
5. Nationwide and in Virginia, 16% of cardiologists are female. At Pauley, nearly a third of our cardiologists are women.
    
6. From 4 to 25. Pauley’s outpatient advanced practice provider (APP) team has grown significantly over the past five years, underscoring our commitment to a team approach to high-quality, timely care for our patients.
   
   
7. The FIRST in the world to use MRI stress testing to identify heart attack risks was Pauley Heart Center Director Greg Hundley, M.D. He also was the first in the world to use MRI to visualize and measure blood flow in the coronary arteries.
   
   
8. 40% annual increase in cardiac MRIs since 2019. That’s in part thanks to generous support by the Pauley Family Foundation, which helped VCU Health open a cardiac imaging suite in 2018.
   
   
9. The first successful total artificial heart transplant on the East Coast was performed at the Pauley Heart Center in 2006 by Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D., chief of surgery at VCU Health and a cardiothoracic surgeon.
   
   
10. Pauley Heart Center’s electrophysiology (EP) team has set the standards for treating heart rhythm disorders over the past 30 years. The EP team was one of the first three hospitals in the U.S. to perform catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in 1998, which is now the standard treatment for the most common heart rhythm disorder. This team’s work has been led by Ken Ellenbogen, M.D., one of the world’s foremost electrophysiologists.
     
11. The first ballon angioplasty in Virginia was performed at VCU Health (then the Medical College of Virginia) in 1979 by Michael Cowley, M.D., and George Vetrovec, M.D. Vetrovec would later be instrumental in the formation of the heart center and served as the chair of the Division of Cardiology from 1991 to 2009.
    
    
12. The world's first long-distance heart transplant was performed at VCU Health. Cardiothoracic surgeon Szabolcs Szentpetery, M.D., transported the heart via cooler and airplane from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Richmond, Virginia, for the transplant. Szenptetery also pioneered the heart transplant program at the Richmond VA Medical Center. 
    
    
13. Pauley’s research funding has increased by more than 50% over the past five years, from $7.2M in FY20 to $11.2M in FY25.
     
14. Pauley researchers continue to secure major grants for their projects. For example, in 2023, the Pauley Heart Center was awarded VCU’s first ever Strategically Funded Research Network grant from the American Heart Association – a multicenter, multi-year $15M grant to study the effects of psychosocial stress on cardiovascular disease.The logo for VCU Health Pauley Heart Center includes a “P” for Pauley! (VCU Health Pauley Heart Center) 
     
15. One part of Pauley’s mission is to train the next generation of cardiovascular physicians and surgeons. Over the past five years, Pauley and the VCU School of Medicine’s cardiovascular disease medicine fellowship have increased by 60%.
     
16. Pauley’s new outpatient heart failure management program reduced heart failure appointment no-show rates nearly in half, from 34% to 16%, over eight months in 2025. This program, which is supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia to help reduce emergency department visits and related Medicare and Medicaid expenses, is an extension of Pauley’s existing inpatient heart failure navigators program, which has earned national recognition for its success in reducing heart failure patient readmissions. 
    
    
17. The next generation of heart experts are being mentored at Pauley – and they’re getting a head start in STEM fields. Of our summer undergraduate research fellows who have completed their undergraduate degrees, 70% are currently pursuing a graduate degree in a STEM-related field or working full-time in a STEM-related field.
      
18. More than 150 hours of free continuing medical education courses, developed by Pauley, are offered to health care providers in Virginia and nationwide. In 2025, thanks to state funding, Pauley launched a new educational course that helps Virginia’s family medicine and primary care providers better diagnose and treat heart disease.
     
19. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Virginia and nationwide, yet it is estimated that 80% of all heart disease is preventable. That’s why Pauley’s Heart Heroes program is working to curb one of the most common causes of heart disease – high blood pressure – in Hopewell, Virginia, which has one of the highest rates of hypertension in Virginia. 
    
    
20. The left loop of Pauley’s red heart logo is the shape of a P, for Pauley! 

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