Robert Winn, M.D., conducts groundbreaking research to discover new therapies for cancer and is committed to eliminating health inequities to make cancer treatment and prevention equally available to all.
Dr. Winn leads the nation in establishing a 21st-century model of equity for cancer science and care. This model allows the community to inform and partner with Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Massey Cancer Center on its research to best address the cancer burden and disparities of cancer center services. VCU Massey is home to one of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program Minority/Underserved Community Sites.
Dr. Winn is the principal investigator on numerous community-based projects funded by NIH and NCI, one of which is the All of Us Research Program precision medicine initiative.
Dr. Winn also manages a research laboratory at VCU. His current basic science research, which has been supported by multiple NIH and Veterans Affairs Merit awards, focuses on the molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for human models of lung cancer.
He has received national and international praise for his efforts to empower underserved patient populations, ensure equal access to cancer services, and improve healthcare delivery. He has also authored and co-authored more than 60 manuscripts that have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. A pulmonologist, he has committed nearly 20 years to Veterans Affairs health services and helped establish the first multidisciplinary pulmonary nodule clinic at Jesse Brown VA in Chicago.
In 2021, Dr. Winn was elected vice president/president-elect of the Association of American Cancer Institutes Board of Directors. He has received many awards and accolades including the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities CURE Program Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine among other professional societies.
Previously, Dr. Winn was the Director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center and served as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs for Community-Based Practice at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System. He currently serves as the Director and Lipman Chair in Oncology at VCU Massey Cancer Center.
Read Dr. Winn’s VCU profile to learn more about him.