Biography - Richard Zhu, MD

Dr. Richard Zhu joins the Greenwich Hospital Center for Pain Management as an anesthesiologist specializing in interventional pain medicine. He is skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain conditions including joint pain, headache, back pain, sciatica, neuropathic pain, and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). He has a special interest in interventional treatments for cancer-related pain, whether patients are undergoing current treatment or for those in remission who face side effects from past treatment.

Dr. Zhu was drawn to understanding the mechanisms behind pain and sensation during his undergraduate years at Duke University, where he majored in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience. His studies included lab work in the Department of Neurobiology, where he conducted experiments to help understand how pain is transmitted on a cellular level. His contribution to the field eventually led to a publication in Nature Communications.

After graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Zhu traveled back to his hometown for medical school at the University of Maryland. After medical school, Dr. Zhu came to Connecticut for his residency in Anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine. There, he was intrigued by the phenomenon of chronic pain and the debilitating impact it can have on a person’s life. He wanted to dedicate his career to treating chronic pain, and pursued a Fellowship in Pain Medicine at the Cornell Tri-Institute, which combines training at NY Presbyterian-Weill Cornell, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Memorial Sloan Kettering. At these 3 institutions, Dr. Zhu gained expertise in the treatment of the whole spectrum of pain conditions, from ketamine infusions and spinal cord stimulation for CRPS to intrathecal pain pump placement for cancer-related pain.

At the Center for Pain Management, he envisions a multidisciplinary approach to patient care with the capability to offer the most advanced and cutting-edge therapies to patients that can target the root cause of a patient’s pain. This may include spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, ultrasound-guided nerve blocks, or regenerative medicine.

Dr Zhu is an active contributor to his field, having published several articles and a book chapter on Pain Medicine. He is an active member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the North American Neuromodulation Society, the Connecticut Pain Society, and the New York Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

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