News Center

Leaders from the majority of the health districts in Virginia gathered in Richmond last week to collaborate with VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center leaders and national cancer research advocates to discuss the impact of federal policies on cancer research funding on the communities in Virginia.

“We are going to have to create more innovative partnerships, and sometimes you don’t have to do that until you have a reason. And we have a reason now. And the overall reason is that we want a healthier commonwealth,” said Robert A. Winn, M.D., director and Lipman chair in oncology at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The goal is: how we can mobilize and leverage our collective resources.”

Massey and the Virginia Department of Health led the Virginia Public Health Summit on Cancer at the Richmond Westin on June 3. The event brought together nearly 100 leaders from 25 health districts throughout the state to collaborate on improving cancer outcomes for citizens across the commonwealth.

The Virginia Public Health Summit on Cancer is the only meeting of its kind in the nation to bring together statewide health district directors, comprehensive cancer center leaders, and national advocates to discuss cancer prevention and care.

Katherine Y. Tossas, Ph.D., M.S., director of Catchment Area Data Analytics at Massey, expressed that the goal of the summit is to develop, collaborate on and execute a shared health agenda statewide.

“We are here to partner, to enhance, augment, and to be guided by you so we know where to invest our resources,” Tossas said.

Danny Avula, M.D., the mayor of Richmond and former health director of Richmond City and Henrico County health departments, opened the summit and shared the “beautiful collaboration” between the city and Massey, as well as the need for health districts around the state to connect with community-focused and prevention-minded institutions to benefit public health.

“We, as public health leaders, need to find those partners who are aligned with public health needs. It’s important to find incredible partners like Massey to work with,” Avula said.

Karen Shelton, M.D., state health commissioner for the Virginia Department of Health, talked about the Virginia Cancer Plan, as well as how bringing different voices to the table will be critical in shaping the current landscape of public health and cancer in the state.

“We do have to work with our community partners in order to make things happen,” Shelton said. “We look at what we tackle, and what we tackle, we can accomplish.”

In the face of potential national funding cuts, leaders discussed the need to come together and collaborate to find solutions for citizens across the state.

Stacy Loeb, M.D., a professor in the Department of Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, discussed how pervasive health misinformation negatively impacts patient outcomes and relationships between patients and their providers.

“The solution to pollution is dilution,” Loeb said. “We can get out there and try to have our voices heard. It will take a multi-stakeholder approach to address this.”

Part of the afternoon session focused on how an individual’s environment affects health outcomes, with four unique presentations.

David Turner, Ph.D., the interim associate director of community outreach and engagement at Massey, highlighted how advanced glycation end products (AGEs) - sugars, fats and proteins - accumulate in the body and break down healthy tissues and organs over time, potentially accelerating the risk of cancer. Turner discussed how engaging the community about additional risk factors like smoking, alcohol consumption and UV exposure, in addition to healthier eating, can reduce the risk of cancer.

Susan Hong, M.D., MPH, FACP, presented on food insecurity, highlighting how 13% of all Americans face food insecurity. Hong, the director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Massey, illustrated how Massey has identified over 600 patients who tested positive for food insecurity and provided boxes to over 45 percent of those patients through its In Cancer Care, Food is Medicine initiative.

Steven Woolf, M.D., MPH, director emeritus and senior advisor for the VCU Center on Society and Health, discussed how a variety of factors - social and economic, physical and social environments, public policy and spending, health systems, and individual behaviors - contributed to disparities in health and cancer outcomes.

During his remarks, Winn said that public health is about prevention, education and, most importantly, letting communities in Virginia know that institutions like Massey and health district representatives  are committed to showing up for them. While much of the summit was spent collaborating on the development of new public health strategies moving forward, Winn emphasized the progress that has been made against cancer, including a 34% reduction in cancer deaths in the U.S. since 1991.

“We don’t celebrate enough, which means that our communities can’t celebrate,” Winn said. “34% is not a small number. 18 million more people are alive today than would have been in 1991. If we don’t tell that story, who is going to know that story?”

Leaders came together in an afternoon session to brainstorm actions to better improve nutrition and food access for all Virginians, including enhancing and building relationships with community partners, building trust in communities, and bridging the communications gap across a wide swath of populations.

Additionally, Massey’s Office of Catchment Area Data Analytics (CADA) announced the 2025 CADA DARES grant program, which offers up to $10,000 in funding. The program supports community organizations in their efforts to conquer local cancer challenges and drive preventive actions by supporting the design and delivery of a targeted community intervention that produces a measurable cancer-preventive behavior change (e.g., increased HPV vaccination or colorectal screening).

Grant funds will be awarded to community‐based organizations who develop data‐driven outreach projects utilizing CADA’s public catchment area data and tools to identify specific, high-priority local concerns, where projects that integrate one of Massey’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) programs (e.g., We Can QUIT, We Can Eat Well, or We Can Take Action) are especially encouraged. More information on the CADA DARES grant program can be found here.

Written by: Blake Belden, Nicole Hansen, and Bill Potter