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In January 2025, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center welcomed the inaugural cohort for the Executive Leadership Academy for Cancer Centers (ELACC), an 18-month intensive leadership academy in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center. This first-of-its-kind, in-depth training series involves a robust curriculum to empower scientists who are interested in becoming future leaders of National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers.

“This initiative is a game-changer for training the next generation of trailblazers who will guide us toward a future without cancer,” said Robert A. Winn, M.D., director and Lipman Chair in Oncology at Massey. “Partnering with our colleagues at Hollings to launch this academy truly showcases how preparing the leaders of tomorrow can bolster our efforts to make progress against a disease that affects all of us.”

Through this academy, Massey, Hollings and other NCI-designated cancer centers across the U.S. will provide ELACC fellows with training on all aspects of the P30 Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG), highly competitive federal funding specifically awarded to cancer centers by the NCI based on scientific merit as a means to develop new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Massey to provide this important program to up-and-coming leaders,” said Ray DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., director of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. “Through ELACC, these fellows will gain a much deeper understanding of the CCSG that will position each of them to bring greater value to their centers and respective institutions, and ultimately our patients as we strive to eradicate cancer.”

ELACC fellows will be exposed to leadership development workshops and a 360-degree leadership assessment followed by professional coaching sessions. Paired with both a leadership mentor and external sponsor, fellows will also support the development and completion of a capstone project.

“This comprehensive initiative will equip some of the brightest emerging minds in cancer science and medicine with the expertise and confidence to carry out assistant and senior leadership roles at their centers,” said Paula M. Fracasso, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, deputy director and senior advisor to the Cancer Service Line at Massey, who played an essential part in developing the curriculum for the academy. “I’m beyond excited to have a hand in shaping this innovative, educational program that could become a blueprint for a larger training effort to support faculty around the country.”

Twelve faculty members — six Massey and six Hollings faculty — were selected for the first cohort, with the expectation that future cohorts will be open to faculty at other NCI-designated cancer centers. 

Meet the fellows of the inaugural 2025-2026 cohort:

Evan Graboyes, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, is the director of the Survivorship and Cancer Outcomes research program at Hollings and an associate professor at MUSC. He is a fellowship-trained head and neck surgical oncologist and health services researcher, focused on the development, evaluation and implementation of multilevel interventions to improve the timeliness and quality-of-care delivery for patients with cancer. In his clinical practice, Graboyes cares for a large population of racial and ethnic minorities, underinsured, rural and other medically vulnerable patients.

Silvia Guglietta, Ph.D., is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at MUSC, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. She is actively involved in the research portfolio of the Hollings Cancer Center as a member of multiple study groups, including the MUSC Program for Human Microbiome Research, the Microbiome working group, the Cancer Biology and Immunology Program and the Transdisciplinary Colon Cancer Team. 

Jennifer Jordan, Ph.D., is a member of Massey's Cancer Prevention and Control research program and an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the VCU College of Engineering and the Pauley Heart Center. She utilizes cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and comprehensive fitness tests in an effort to reduce heart complications among patients treated for cancer or other chronic diseases. Jordan is the co-principal investigator on a first-of-its-kind prospective study looking at early signs of heart vessel damage in young, pre-menopausal breast cancer survivors.

John Kaczmar, M.D., is the lead medical oncologist on the head and neck cancer multidisciplinary team at Hollings, focused on improving responses to immunotherapy and finding additional ways to incorporate immunotherapy into the standard of care for patients with head and neck cancer. He is also the director of research for the Division of Hematology and Oncology; the director of the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Unit; co-chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee; and co-chair of the Hollings Information Technology Committee.

Jennifer Koblinski, Ph.D., is a member of the Cancer Biology research program and the director of the Cancer Mouse Models Core at Massey. She is also an associate professor (tenured) in the Department of Pathology at the VCU School of Medicine. Koblinski’s laboratory collaborates regularly with scientists across the cancer center to enhance biophysical studies through expertise in tumor models of disease growth and metastasis. Her research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society at both the local and national level.

Joseph Landry, Ph.D., is a member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey and an associate professor of human and molecular genetics at the VCU School of Medicine. His research focuses on identifying functions for novel chromatin regulators during normal development and cancer biology. Landry recently led a study published in Cancer Research that suggests a new personalized treatment strategy could improve outcomes in women with lung cancer.

Larisa Litovchick, M.D., Ph.D., is a member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey and an associate professor of internal medicine at the VCU School of Medicine. She currently holds grant funding from the National Cancer Institute to investigate the role of the DREAM complex in lung tumor suppression. Additionally, Litovchick led a study recently published in Frontiers in Oncology suggesting that proteasome inhibitors could have therapeutic implications in some subsets of non-small cell lung cancer with p53 mutations.

David Long, Ph.D., is the assistant director of education and training at Hollings and an associate professor at MUSC. He is also the director of the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department graduate program and associate director of the T32 Integrative Training in Oncogenic Signaling postdoctoral program. Long works closely with Hollings leaders to oversee, coordinate and track oncology-focused education and training opportunities.

Keri Maher, D.O., is a member of the Developmental Therapeutics research program at Massey and an associate professor of internal medicine at the VCU School of Medicine. She specializes in the treatment of acute leukemia and myeloid disorders, and is currently the lead investigator on more than 10 active clinical trials at Massey studying new therapeutic options for blood diseases. Maher recently published findings from a phase 1 study investigating a combination targeted treatment strategy in acute myeloid leukemia.

Joni Nelson, Ph.D., is the assistant director of Office of Workforce Development and Organizational Culture at Hollings and an associate professor at MUSC. She has dual appointments in the MUSC Department of Public Health Sciences in the College of Medicine and the Department of Biomedical & Community Health Sciences in the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, where she also serves as chief of the Division of Population Oral Health. As a health promotion, education and behavioral research interventionist, Nelson has significant expertise in population oral health disparities, with an emphasis on rural public health, health care services, and planning and evaluation research.

Alana Rojewski, Ph.D., is the associate director of the MUSC Health Tobacco Treatment Program at Hollings and an associate professor at MUSC. She is an experimental psychologist, who has been actively involved in tobacco treatment and control research for nearly 15 years. Rojewski’s research goals are to develop tobacco treatment interventions for people who smoke with comorbid conditions (e.g., HIV, cancer) and to implement those interventions in the health care setting.

Can Senkal, Ph.D., is a member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey and an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the VCU School of Medicine. He has extensive expertise in the biochemistry and cell biology of bioactive sphingolipids and their roles in cancer growth and treatment. Previously, he led a team of scientists to discover a previously unknown interaction between proteins that is responsible for supplying energy to tumor cells and could hold significant implications for the development of future treatments for colon cancer.

The ELACC would not have been implemented without the dedicated efforts of a number of additional individuals, including Andrea Brown, M.B.A., assistant director for pre-award at Massey; Anita Harrison, M.P.A., executive director for research strategy at Massey; Travis Poole, M.H.A., chief administrative officer at Hollings; Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., associate director for education and training at Hollings; and Melanie Jefferson, Ph.D., administrative director of education and training at Hollings.

Written by: Blake Belden