David Cifu, MD is chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia, and national director of the PM&R program office for the Veterans Health Administration. He is also the Herman J. Flax, MD Professor and Chief of PM&R Services of the VCU Health System, and executive director of the VCU Center for rehabilitation Sciences and Engineering (VCU-CERSE) – a $16 million/year, interdisciplinary research consortium with 65+ research faculty focused on improving knowledge translation and clinical care for individuals with acute and chronic disability.
Dr. Cifu graduated from the Boston University School of Medicine six-Year Medical Program in 1986 and then completed his Internship and Residency (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) at the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX) in 1990. He served on faculty at Baylor in the Departments of PM&R and Restorative Neurology until 1991, when he joined VCU/Medical College of Virginia.
Since 1992, he has been funded on 27 research grants in the field of Neurologic Rehabilitation, and is PI or Co-PI on 6 current research grants. In his 20 years as an academic physiatrist, he has delivered over 400 regional, national and international lectures, and published more than 250 articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He is also a Past President of the American Academy of PM&R.