Director's Message

Welcome to VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. We are proud to be one of just 58 cancer centers nationwide designated by the National Cancer Institute as comprehensive to help lead and shape our nation’s progress against cancer.

As an NCI-designated comprehensive center, Massey is recognized for demonstrating an added depth and breadth of research, as well as substantial transdisciplinary research that bridges these scientific areas. Comprehensive cancer centers provide access to the latest research in cancer care, including life-saving clinical trials.

But what distinguishes Massey from our peer institutions is our commitment to the community-to-bench model. Our community members are our partners from the outset of research, helping our scientists to identify cancer-related problems in our catchment area and collaborate to develop research-based solutions. The community’s cancer needs inform our research and then we bring our discoveries from our laboratories to the patient bedside and back to the community. Furthermore, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is dedicated to developing methods to eliminate health disparities and ensure equal access to cutting-edge medical treatments.

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center has one of the largest selections of clinical trials in Virginia, which in turn enables us to offer more hope and new treatment options to people with all types of cancer. We also collaborate with other leading cancer centers across the country to ensure that the treatments people in Virginia need are close to home.

Our specialized teams focus their intellectual power on each patient. These multidisciplinary teams are organized by cancer type – such as breast cancer, lung cancer or colon cancer – and they include a variety of specialists. Surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, nurse navigators and a host of others meet each week to discuss treatment plans for each patient. This level of teamwork and communication provides the highest-quality coordinated, individualized care – all culminating into better outcomes for our patients.

Ensuring the voices of the community are our North Star is what makes Massey different. We strive every day to ensure that our research benefits those in all 66 localities of our catchment area, including the Eastern, Central, and Southern parts of the Commonwealth. I am honored to be leading these efforts as the interim director, and look forward to continuing the work to make cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship accessible to all.

Monica L Baskin

Monica L. Baskin, PhD, FSBM, FABMR
Director, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Associate Dean for Cancer Innovation, VCU School of Medicine