Welcome to Bariatric and GI Surgery

The VCU Division of Bariatric and Gastrointestinal Surgery has a decades long tradition of excellence in clinical care, educational training, and translational research.

Our fellowship-trained surgeons provide:

VCU Health and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU are accredited as a Level 1 Center by the American College of Surgeons’ Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program to care for adults and adolescents with clinically severe obesity. We are the only MBSAQIP-accredited center in Virginia to offer weight loss surgery to adolescents and one of the few in the United States to offer both adult and adolescent bariatric surgery. We are also a Comprehensive Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Center of Distinction and COE by Aetna and United Healthcare.

Our division boasts the VCU Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, a multidisciplinary program designed to offer safe and effective treatments for biliary, splenic, liver, and pancreatic diseases as well as abdominal wall hernias. We offer both laparoscopic and robotic techniques, including MIS component separation techniques for complex abdominal wall reconstructions.

Learn more about VCU Health Surgical Specialties

From the Chair

[VCUSOM Message from the Dean] - chair's Message

From the Chair

“Research and continuing medical education remain a steadfast component of evidence-based patient care and outstanding outcomes. As such, our internationally respected faculty members conduct funded clinical and translational research and teach other surgeons the most modern techniques in the field of minimally invasive surgery.”

— Guilherme Campos, MD, Ph.D, FACS, FASMBS

To make an appointment

Our bariatric and gastrointestinal surgery clinics are located at:

Call: 804-827-0045 

Email: helpforobesity@vcuhealth.org

Schedule an Appointment

Research

Clinical and outcomes research remain a central component of our division’s mission.

We participate in several industry, society and federally funded clinical trials; and clinical and experimental research projects. Current projects include:

  • A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical investigation of the EndoStim Lower Esophageal Sphincter Stimulation System
  • Outcomes and cost of laparoscopic vs. robot-assisted inguinal hernia repair
  • HUD-Enterra therapy for gastroparesis
  • Bile acid mediation of the lipidome as a contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its resolution following bariatric surgery
  • EMPOWER clinical trial: Vagal blocking for obesity control
  • Long-term mortality after bariatric surgery
  • Concurrent PPARα and FXR activation as mediators of NASH improvement after gastric bypass surgery
  • Racial disparities in the pathophysiology of NAFLD, NASH and type 2 diabetes

Learn more: Office of Research, Biomedicine, Innovation and Technology — ORBIT

Advanced GI, MIS & Foregut Surgery Fellowship

Our division offers a one-year clinical fellowship in advanced laparoscopic surgery with a strong emphasis on preparation for an academic path. The main focus of the program is to obtain clinical and research training and certification in advanced laparoscopic surgery.

Advanced GI, MIS & Foregut Surgery Fellowship

Division Faculty

School of Medicine Faculty Expertise Bios

Fairley, Ryan
Maher, James W.
Miller, Thomas A.
Rafiq, Azhar
Rocha Campos, Guilherme M.
Salluzzo, Jennifer
Savas, Jeannie F.
Wolfe, Luke G.

Advanced Practice Providers

Jessica Foley, FNP
Morgan Zimmerlee, FNP

Contact Us

Guilherme M. Campos, M.D., Ph.D, FACS, FASMBS
Chair, Bariatric and GI Surgery
guilherme.campos@vcuhealth.org

Sharon Ancheta-Hecht
Associate Administrator
sharon.anchetahecht@vcuhealth.org
p: (804) 628-4066

La-Rae Shelton
Division Supervisor
larae.shelton@vcuhealth.org
p: 804-628-3626

Mailing Address
Box 980519
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0519

Phone: (804) 827-0045
Fax: (804) 828-5980