Robert Winn Bio

Robert Winn, MD, serves as director of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, an NCI- designated cancer center. His current basic science research, which has been supported by multiple National Institutes of Health and Veterans Affairs Merit awards, focuses on the molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for human models of lung cancer. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 published manuscripts in peer-reviewed academic journals.

As a pulmonologist, Dr. Winn is committed to community-engaged research centered on eliminating health disparities. Dr. Winn is the president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI); the chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; a fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy; and a member of the LUNGevity Foundation. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Winn has received 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; and the Prevent Cancer Foundation Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Laurel Award for Increasing Health Equity. In 2022, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program was renamed the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program (Winn Award), which is committed to increasing diversity in clinical trials and training the new generation of community-oriented clinical researchers.

Dr. Winn holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MD from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. Dr. Winn has served on the American Cancer Society Board of Directors since 2021 and serves as chair of the Inclusive Workforce Sub-Committee.