Riverside Medical Group names president, chief medical officer

Dr. Thomas Kayrouz joins Newport News-based health system

Published September 30, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Dr. Thomas Kayrouz. Photo courtesy Riverside Medical Group

Riverside Medical Group (RMG), the medical group for Newport News-based Riverside Health System, announced Wednesday Dr. Thomas Kayrouz has been named as president and chief medical officer, overseeing more than 600 providers and 100 practice sites.

With a career in pediatric critical care medicine and physician-led health care leadership, Kayrouz was most recently the executive vice president and chief physician executive for AnMed Health in South Carolina.

“The future for Riverside Health System and Riverside Medical Group is not going to be the same as it is today, but I think it’s a bright future,” Kayrouz said in a statement. “I’m very hopeful and looking forward to building a superb medical group to serve the community.”

Kayrouz has also served as the chief medical officer for AnMed Health and Piedmont Health Partners, as a physician executive at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical and as director of pediatric quality and patient outcomes at the Carilion Clinic Children’s Hospital in Roanoke.

“As much as I loved clinical medicine, and was 150% in all the way until the very last night I was on call, I realized I could have a broader impact in shaping service lines and health systems as a physician leader,” Kayrouz said in a statement.

His priority for the health system is to differentiate itself and provide more convenience to patients amid the pandemic, according to Riverside.

“My comment to the medical group already has been that if you look at several market disrupters over the last decade — Amazon, AirBNB, Uber — their disruptions have always been about service, value and convenience to the customer,” Kayrouz said in a statement. “Health care is not immune to that by any means.”

He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Sciences and his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He completed his residency, chief residency and critical care in pediatrics residency programs at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital at Washington University Medical Center.