A. Zayne Washington, MD

Dr. Zayne Washington is a fellowship-trained headache neurologist and facial pain specialist, caring for both adult and pediatric patients endeavoring to find relief and hope in the face of excruciating conditions. In addition, he is also a pediatric neurologist, board-certified in Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology. 

Throughout his education and career, he has been fascinated by the complex relationships among the nervous system, genetics, and pain. After earning his undergraduate degree in Behavioral Biology at the Johns Hopkins University, he studied at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, engaged in the Basic Sciences track and assisting in research identifying the proteomic and genomic profiles of craniofacial disorders. He completed his residency in Child Neurology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. During his pediatric training, he developed a screener to better identify children who were victims of child abuse, earning him the Quality Improvement Award. He also advocated for patients with headache disorders who survived intimate partner violence (IPV). He developed a screening tool and program to pair victims/survivors of IPV with local resources such as Spanish-speaking shelters and those who offered refuge for both mothers and their children. This work led to him being awarded the Golden Heart Advocacy Award after graduating as Chief Resident. 

Dr. Washington completed his fellowship training in Headache Medicine at the Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts General Brigham, where he provided care and coverage for multiple sites, including Boston Children’s Hospital. He continued to study the impact of trauma on headaches through working in his mentor’s molecular neurogenetics lab studying differences in genomic expression in models of traumatic brain injury. He also served as the neurology subject matter expert for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, working with the Massachusetts Health Care Services Board to develop Commonwealth-wide policy on how injured workers with concussions are to be treated. He also was honored to serve on the Harvard Interdisciplinary Pain Committee and continues to do so. 

Dr. Washington joined the CHoR and VCU Medical Center teams in 2026. He is excited to be a member of VCU Health, joining his mentors and colleagues in patient care and the education of future health care providers. In his free time, Dr. Washington enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, traveling, antiquing, visiting art galleries, attending museums featuring Black-American and Middle Eastern History exhibits, and fencing.