Robert A. Winn, M.D.
Director and Lipman Chair in Oncology, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Senior associate dean for cancer innovation and professor of pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, VCU School of Medicine,
President, American Association of Cancer Institutes
As director of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Robert A. Winn, M.D., oversees a cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute that provides advanced cancer care, conducts groundbreaking research to discover new therapies for cancer, offers high-quality education and training, and engages with the community to make advancements in cancer treatment and prevention equally available to all. He is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model of equity for cancer science and care, in which the community is informing and partnering with Massey on its research to best address the cancer burden and disparities of those the cancer center serves, with a local focus but global impact.
As a physician-scientist, his basic and translational research is focused on the development of novel in vitro and in vivo models to study the translational aspects of the role that various signaling pathways (e.g., WNTs, PRMT, KSRP) play in lung cancer. Winn has also brought the importance of the concept of ZNA (i.e., one’s zip code or neighborhood of association) and its impact on DNA and biological outcomes to the forefront in basic and translational research. His findings in this area have driven several important studies and has truly advanced the science of health equity.
With over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, Winn is the principal investigator on several significant multi-institutional grants, including a Stand Up To Cancer health equity team science award, a National Cancer Institute-funded Planning SPORE focused on Lung Cancer Health Equity, and an institutional partnership award promoting cancer disparities research and career development collaboration between Massey and Virginia State University. He is the co-founder of the nationally recognized Facts & Faith Fridays conversation series, fostering dialogue between science, community leaders, and faith leaders to address medical mistrust within the African American community. Notable guests in this series have included Jill Biden, Ed.D., Anthony Fauci, M.D., Ned Sharpless, M.D., and Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
He has been recognized for his exemplary community engagement efforts and is the namesake of the Robert A. Winn Excellence in Clinical Trials Award Program, a $114 million national training and education program committed to increasing diversity in clinical trials and training the new generation of community-oriented clinical researchers.
A national leader in health equity, Winn is the first elected minority (African American) president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) in its 65-year history; the chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; an elected fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy; and a member of the national Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society and LUNGevity Foundation. Winn also serves as the chair for the AACR Cancer Health Disparities Report for 2024, which was presented to Congress in May 2024.
Winn is the recipient of the National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities CURE Program Lifetime Achievement Award; the AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship; the AACI Cancer Health Equity Award; the LUNGevity Foundation Face of Hope Award; the Prevent Cancer Foundation Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Laurel Award for Increasing Health Equity; and the ASCO Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award.
Winn holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. 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 in Denver.