Center News & Funding, Research, Prevention & Control, Clinical, Technology

Breast imaging expert explains how new FDA mammogram rules help patients make informed decisions about their care

Sep 27, 2024

About half of women who are 40 or older in the United States have dense breast tissue. This type of tissue not only puts them at higher risk of developing breast cancer – it also makes it harder for clinicians to detect it in mammograms. In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released ...

Massey physician reviews breast scans at a computer

Clinical, Research, Center News & Funding

Get C-SMART: Massey neuropsychologist seeks to enhance brain wellness in neuro-oncology

Sep 23, 2024

For most people, chasing a dream of becoming an actress doesn’t usually lead down a path toward a career developing cognitive rehabilitation interventions to improve the neurocognitive and emotional wellbeing of brain cancer patients. But for Sarah Braun, Ph.D., LCP, a member of the Cancer Preventio...

Center News & Funding, Community Engagement & Health Equity, Massey 50

Massey hosts congresswoman, highlights efforts to reduce cancer burden for all Virginians

Sep 16, 2024

On Aug. 28, Michael Rao, Ph.D., VCU president and chair of VCU Health System Authority, looked across a crowded conference room and applauded VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s five decades of positive impact upon cancer outcomes and disparities in the Commonwealth and beyond. “This is our 50t...

image_of_doctor_winn_and_abigail_spanberger

Research

Undergraduate student embraces the chance to write her own story in cancer research

Aug 30, 2024

As an aspiring physician, Aleah Nguyen wants to heal – and as a student researcher, she wants to reveal. Nguyen, a rising junior in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Honors College, is majoring in biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. This summer, through the Honors Summer Undergraduat...

Research, Clinical, Technology

VCU team has designs on a game-changer in women’s cancer treatment

Aug 29, 2024

Navid Fallahi knew there had to be a better way. Fallahi, M.D., is a fourth-year clinical resident at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. Cervical and uterine cancers present significant challenges in his specialty – radiation oncology – and ...

Research, Center News & Funding

With new grant funding, researcher hopes to take down multiple drivers of lung cancer with a single strike

Aug 08, 2024

A scientist at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center was awarded more than $2.7 million in grant funding to evaluate the effectiveness of a new targeted drug in treating the most common type of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., where approximately 80-85% of ...

Center News & Funding, Community Engagement & Health Equity, Clinical, Research, Prevention & Control

A journey of unrelenting hope and resilience

Aug 05, 2024

A retired firefighter takes on the battle of a lifetime with the support of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, reminding others that there’s hope “even in your darkest moments.” Greg Leitz is no stranger to battling adverse circumstances. He fought hundreds of fires during his 20-year tenure wi...

Research, Center News & Funding

Massey trainee receives prestigious Susan G. Komen grant

Aug 05, 2024

Moriah Bellissimo, Ph.D., R.D., a former T32 fellow at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and postdoctoral fellow at VCU Health Pauley Heart Center, has received a Career Transition Award from Susan G. Komen in support of her project “Physical Activity to Reduce Breast Cancer Treatment Morbidity...

Research

Biological and social health factors must be examined together to effectively tackle cancer disparities

Jul 29, 2024

Scientists at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center have coined a new term — “biosocial determinants of health” — to define the interaction of biological, environmental and social drivers that influence cancer risk, incidence and disparities. Through a new paper published in Trends in Cancer, study...

illustration_of_biosocial_drivers_of_health

Prevention & Control, Research

Living in disadvantaged neighborhoods may contribute to stress and aggressive prostate cancer in African American men

Jul 25, 2024

Those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have significantly higher activity of stress-related genes, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open, which could contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in African American men. The study was co-led by VCU Massey Comprehen...

Community Engagement & Health Equity, Clinical, Prevention & Control, Technology

New mobile cancer screening initiative provides more access for rural Virginians

Jul 24, 2024

VCU Health is rolling out an innovative solution to common problems across healthcare systems – wait times and access to timely care. This solution just happens to have 18 wheels and state-of-the-art technology. A new 50-foot trailer will travel between three VCU Health and VCU Massey Comprehensive ...

Center News & Funding, Research

May/June 2024: Published research at Massey

Jul 22, 2024

As one of just two NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Virginia, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is at the forefront of the nation’s cancer research efforts. As Massey celebrates 50 years of fueling innovation in cancer research, scientists at Massey continue to conduct cutting-edg...

Victoria Findlay (back) and student in the laboratory

Community Engagement & Health Equity, Center News & Funding, Prevention & Control

Massey connects with community at ESSENCE Fest: ‘We are breaking down silos nationally.’

Jul 09, 2024

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center took its community-centered approach to research and clinical care to the ESSENCE Festival of Culture (ESSENCE Fest), held July 4-7 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Widely recognized as the largest African American culture and music event in the United States, ESSENC...

Winn (center) on panel at ESSENCE Festival

Research, Community Engagement & Health Equity

National pioneer in breast cancer and survivorship visits Massey as part of distinguished seminar series

Jul 02, 2024

Standing before a crowded room of clinicians, scientists, students and community members at the Science Museum of Virginia, Patricia Ganz, M.D., underlined how symptom management and quality of life sprouted lasting roots in the continuum of cancer treatment four decades ago. “Symptoms were always p...

Center News & Funding, Community Engagement & Health Equity, Prevention & Control, Clinical

Massey patients, caregivers guide cancer advocacy discussion

Jun 21, 2024

Christine Wilson described what life with cancer was like in the not-so-distant past — the years prior to the 1970s — when a diagnosis often silenced patients. “The notion of advocacy did not exist at that point. The notion was that cancer was an incurable disease,” said Wilson, the vice presiden...

Participants during a National Patient Advocate Foundation working group session on June 15

Center News & Funding, Community Engagement & Health Equity, Clinical, Research, Prevention & Control

Massey’s cutting-edge clinical care and research reaches an international audience at oncology conference

Jun 14, 2024

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center placed its reputation as an international leader for cutting-edge cancer care and clinical research on display at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 31 - June 4. The clinical oncology conference brought togeth...

Participants attending 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Research

Massey biostatistician earns prestigious fellowship from Society for Clinical Trials

Jun 12, 2024

Nolan Wages, Ph.D., the director of the Biostatistics Shared Resource and a member of the Developmental Therapeutics research program at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named a fellow of the Society for Clinical Trials (SCT). This prestigious designation, introduced in 2005, recogni...

Prevention & Control, Community Engagement & Health Equity, Center News & Funding

Luncheon celebrates growth of Facts & Faith Fridays: “Science and religion lean on one another to get the job done.”

Jun 10, 2024

More than two dozen faith leaders and representatives from VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center bowed their heads as Rev. Rachel Pierce, M.A., offered a blessing over food and extended it to the group for continued fellowship. Pierce, the faith liaison and engagement coordinator at Massey, said th...

Center News & Funding

Massey director honored with national visionary leader award

Jun 04, 2024

On June 1, 2024, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center director Robert A. Winn, M.D., received the American Society of Cancer Oncology (ASCO) Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award First awarded in 2017, the ASCO Lichter Award recognizes members who have transformed the oncology field or significant...

Group photo of Massey director Robert A. Winn, M.D. receiving the American Society of Cancer Oncology (ASCO) Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago on June 1

Center News & Funding, Research

The Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program announces third cohort of medical students for its Clinical Investigator Pathway Program

Jun 03, 2024

Nearly 75 medical students to participate in groundbreaking national Diversity in Clinical Trials Research Program The Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program (Winn Awards) today announced that 72 medical students who are underrepresented in medicine and/or from disadvantaged backg...