Gary S. Kavit   Cheryl L. Lawson   James A. Fish   Shafqat H. Ashai   James R. Dudley

Riverside previously contracted with Emergency Consultants, Inc. to provide physician services for the three Emergency operations and the region’s only Level II Trauma Center. Effective May 14, emergency physicians at Riverside hospitals will be members of the Riverside Medical Group multi-specialty organization.

Riverside Vice President Renee Rountree explained that the decision to recruit the Emergency group into Riverside Medical Group enables Riverside to significantly improve the timeliness of patient care by increasing the provider staffing levels.

“For instance, we will be able to add an additional five physicians and care givers to the daily staffing structure at Riverside Regional Medical Center Emergency/Trauma Center as a result of bringing the physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners into the company,” Rountree said.

Riverside has named five physicians to lead the new Riverside Emergency Physicians group:

Gary S. Kavit, MD, FACEP has been named Medical Director of Emergency Services at Riverside Regional Medical Center’s Level II Emergency/Trauma Center. Dr. Kavit has practiced  emergency medicine and served as Medical Director of Emergency Services at RRMC since 1998 while with Emergency Consultants, Inc. He has pioneered new responses to interventional care of patients suffering the most dangerous form of heart attacks and has teamed up with other Riverside leading physicians to bring to Riverside the latest standards of care for pneumonia, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, strokes and pediatric care.

Cheryl L. Lawson, MD has been named Medical Director for EMS at Riverside Regional Medical Center. Dr. Lawson is Board Certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Lawson was recently nominated for the Governor’s Advisory Board for Emergency Medical Services.

James A. Fish, MD has been named Medical Director/Quality. Dr. Fish is Board Certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Family Medicine. He has practiced emergency medicine at Riverside for over two decades.

Shafqat H. Ashai, MD has been named Medical Director of Emergency Services for Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester. Dr. Ashai is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

James R. Dudley, MD has been named Medical Director of Emergency Services for Riverside Tappahannock Hospital. Dr. Dudley is Board Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. He currently serves on the Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee of Virginia and is a member of the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services. Dr. Dudley earned his Masters in Business Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University.