Family-owned medical practice celebrates 115 years in Jackson Ward

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Looking at pictures of the past, Dr. Richard Jackson gazed at the large photo on his lobby’s wall of his grandfather Dr. Isaiah Jackson, who was born in 1888 and founded his family-owned Dominion Medical Associates in 1911.

“To have him here to look at, when I have questions sometimes or deep thoughts, I come here, and I look at his picture and wonder what would he do in different situations?” Richard Jackson said.

Outside of the brick building in Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward at 3^rd and Leigh Streets is a plaque honoring Isaiah as a co-founder of the once renowned Richmond Community Hospital. It was a lifeline for the Black community not accepted at white hospitals.

Isaiah was a contemporary of the famous surgeon and inventor Charles Drew. The two are pictured together along with about a dozen other Black Virginia doctors in a photo hanging in Richard’s office.

“When I was growing up this whole area was filled with Black doctors and professionals from optometrists to pediatricians,” said Richard “AJ” Jackson Jr.

It was Isaiah who started the family tradition then his son Reginald Jackson followed in his father’s footsteps and later Richard with all three becoming doctors.

"I remember when I was five years old, my grandfather sat me on his knee, he says, my friend, one day, he is going to take over my practice, and I did,” said Richard, whose specialty is internal medicine.

Isaiah’s practice began on Clay Street, where the Greater Richmond Convention Center is currently located before moving across the street their office building now, which used to be a single-family home. Fast forward to the fourth generation at Dominion Medical, the practice expanded to two locations, including another office in Church Hill.

Also at the helm is AJ Jackson, who has served as director of clinical research since 2008.

AJ studied chemistry and economics as an undergrad at VCU, before moving to Los Angeles to work in real estate in California before the market crash of 2008. When he returned home to the River City, he went back to VCU to get his MBA. That business background proved key to helping him organizing research groups and conducting different types of clinical trials.

“I found myself ending up right where I need to be, and now, I get to work with my dad, so there’s just a lot of pride you know and a sense of duty,” AJ said.

Both AJ and his father Richard said they were never pressured to get into the medical field from their parents. Richard said he was often exposed to the lifestyle since his father Reginald was a radiologist, who used to bring him to work at his Clay Street office, and he got to ride on the x-ray machine as a child.

Although Isaiah went to Shaw University, both Reginald, Richard and sister Gail all went to Howard University for medical school.

“I’m sure that was his plan all along for us to be physicians, but he made us think we had something to do with it,” Richard said.

AJ says his goal for the next 50 or 60 years is to just keep it going. He is the oldest of five siblings and the only boy, who takes pride in finding ways to upgrade and streamline his father's medical practice.

"We want to show by example like hey, we can do it, we can have this lineage that we sustained, by keeping up to date with technology and industry changes, and you know, so can you,” AJ said.

Their 115 years in operation comes at a time when there aren't many family-owned private practices surviving.

“Some retire, don’t have family to carry on the practice, many have moved to a larger medical corporate group as it’s more complex to run an independent practice now,” AJ said, as he operates a centrifuge machine separating platelets from red blood cells.

AJ said his work is focusing on attracting more physicians and capitalizing on the individualized touch of independently owned practice, where patients can call and talk to their doctor directly and get their questions answered.

“Even as more things move online, people still need that human element and people want to feel like they are being listened to,” AJ said.

His father said it could be easy to take their rich heritage for granted. He grew up next-door to the Maggie Walker house when Jackson Ward was hub for Black excellence and started working with his father in his 20s serving patients three and four times his age.

“It just seemed natural to stay here and serve the community,” Richard said.

His son agrees their representation and staying power does matter and has become symbolic.

"We show there are  people who look like us, who are successful, have made our own way and built our own things,” AJ said.

The family continues to build a legacy filled with medical professionals and longevity with no signs of stopping.

"We are keeping it in the family… yeah, yeah, there will be another after me. I have three children, one of my sisters has four, another has two, and I have two sisters, who haven’t had kids yet, and my cousin and her mother are doctors,” AJ said.

He said their honored to keep their forefather Dr. Isaiah Jackson’s dream alive.

,"He'd be proud and tell us to get back to work." AJ said.