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In celebration of Massey’s 50th anniversary in 2024, Becky Massey, Massey Advisory Board Chair, advocate and cancer survivor, sat down with Robert A. Winn, M.D., director of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and Lipman Chair in Oncology, for a conversation about the center’s past, present and vision for the future.   

Q. Dr. Winn, let’s talk about the impact Massey has had over these 50 years. What does celebrating 50 years of Massey mean to you? 

A. For 50 years, our vision for a future without the burden of cancer has driven everything we do. Everything. Massey’s 50th anniversary is an opportunity to look back at what we’ve accomplished over the years and to celebrate where we’re going – and that’s far. 

Massey is one of the few places where the energy of honoring the past translates into new hope for the future. Breakthroughs that happen here are changing how we treat cancer and the ways we talk about cancer in our communities. This is what I love most about Massey. 

Q. What are some of Massey’s most important accomplishments over these 50 years? 

A. Over our history, Massey has continually advanced science. Massey's core mission from day one, 50 years ago, was access. It was unique to start with, and it's still unique today. Transformational, first, was the founding of the center by somebody that was a true visionary, Dr. Walter Lawrence. It was radical at the time to introduce the concept of surgical oncology and to fight for equity the way he did. Throughout our history, it has taken courage to embrace new ways to treat patients, to engage our communities and to think out of the box to create new clinical trials and to challenge the way we're doing clinical trials. There is no question about the Massey impact. 

Q. What role has philanthropy played across Massey’s history?

A. You know, I often talk about ‘One team and one fight.’ At the core of that team are our donors – generations of individuals and families who believe in the power of research and invest in the future. Philanthropic giving is critical for Massey to continue to build hope for tomorrow through science. It enables us to test new ideas, to translate our work being done in the lab to the patient and to the community. And it enables us to recruit and retain top researchers and scientists to lead to the next great discovery. 

‘There ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough’ that can keep us from doing this work. I am excited for the future and can’t wait to see what we will accomplish in the next 50 years – together.

Q. What does the future of cancer research look like at Massey? 

A. Imagine a world where we're not only treating people with cancer, we are healing them. 

We're not just bystanders here at Massey. We're making things happen today for the impact and treatment of care tomorrow. Massey is poised to lead the way in areas of early detection and targeted therapies. We are looking at the use of interceptors, MRNA vaccines and biomarkers to identify people at a higher risk for certain cancers, and about multi-cancer early detection. We’re leading the way in drug discovery of antibodies to target cancer causing genes and checkpoint inhibitors. And we’re talking about artificial intelligence to customize clinical trials and drug delivery efficiencies for diverse patients.   

This is all research that is happening at Massey right now. 

Written by: Katherine A. Layton