Community Engagement & Health Equity
Feb 22, 2022
This year, VCU Massey Cancer Center is investing in community-led initiatives that aim to improve the health outcomes for Virginians.
On Feb. 22, Massey announced it awarded $5,000 from the new Massey Cancer Center Community Grant Program to each of the following seven organizations:
“We hope these grants will help support a robust infrastructure for our partners and enhance bi-directional communication between the Massey Cancer Center team and community stakeholders,” said Vanessa Sheppard, Ph.D., associate director of community outreach engagement and health disparities at Massey and professor and Theresa A. Thomas Memorial Chair in Cancer Prevention and Control in the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Health Behavior and Policy.
The SEED grants are the first phase of the Massey Cancer Center Community Grant Program. They are indicative of the cancer center’s mission to create a 21st century community-to-bench model for others to adopt.
“Too often a program ends when the grant term ends, but this program is part of our efforts to reimagine a cancer center’s role in the community,” said Robert A. Winn, M.D., director and Lipman chair in Oncology at Massey and senior associate dean of Cancer Innovation at the VCU School of Medicine. “We are providing resources to support each partner’s priorities and fostering organizational collaboration in the regions Massey serves.”
Massey’s catchment area includes 66 contiguous localities in central, eastern and southern Virginia. They are home to approximately 4 million racially, ethnically, geographically and socioeconomically diverse individuals; about 41% of residents identify as racial/ethnic minorities and 52% identify as living in rural areas.
The cancer center announced a Request for Applications (RFA) on December 7, 2021 with a January 13, 2022 deadline; Fourteen organizations from across Massey’s catchment area submitted applications. Guidelines concerning the criteria and process can be found within the RFA.
Written by: Amy Lacey
Treatments in clinical trials may be more effective or have fewer side effects than the treatments that are currently available. With more than 200 studies for multiple types of cancers and cancer prevention, Massey supports a wide array of clinical trials.
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