As director of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Robert A. Winn, MD, is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the oncology workforce, optimizing cancer health care outcomes for all and spearheading interdisciplinary approaches to cancer disparities research.
Just the fourth director of Massey since its 1975 National Cancer Institute designation, Dr. Winn oversees a center comprised of nearly 150 scientists and clinical investigators. He is nationally recognized for building trust among populations previously disenfranchised from health care or excluded or abused in research. Dr. Winn recently launched the Facts & Faith Fridays conversation series, creating a dialogue between science, community, and faith leaders to combat medical mistrust within the African American community. Guests have included Jill Biden, EdD, Anthony Fauci, MD, Norman E. Sharpless, MD, and Francis Collins, MD, PhD.
Dr. Winn is the namesake of the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program, a $114 million training and education program in partnership with the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation. He is principal investigator on several large multi-institutional initiatives, including a team science award from Stand Up To Cancer, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Planning SPORE focused on Lung Cancer Health Equity, and an NCI-funded institutional partnership award fostering cancer disparities research and career development collaboration between Massey and Virginia State University, a Historically Black University in Petersburg, VA – a city that has faced health and education inequities for generations.
Dr. Winn manages his own basic and translational research laboratory, which focuses on molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for lung cancer and the confluence of societal and biological factors that may lead to disparities.
His previous faculty appointments include serving as director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center from 2015-2019 and as associate vice chancellor of health affairs for community-based practice at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System from 2013-2019. Prior to his work in Chicago, Winn spent 13 years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and School of Medicine in various leadership roles, including associate dean of admissions and vice chair of career development and diversity inclusion.
The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Dr. Winn was the inaugural recipient of the 2021 AACI Cancer Health Equity Award. He serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society and LUNGevity Foundation.
Dr. Winn holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MD from the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.