The Cancer Letter

The leading source for information on the issues that shape oncology since 1973

Black History MonthConversation with The Cancer Letter

VCU’s Rob Winn reflects on a year of COVID, racial reckoning, and being the sole Black director of an NCI-designated cancer center

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email
Share on print
BYLINE
IN THIS ISSUE
BYLINEDOWNLOAD PDFTABLE OF CONTENTS

Being Black and running an NCI-designated cancer center at a time of a worldwide pandemic, an ugly election, and a racial reckoning in a Southern town puts you in a position to make profound observations.

“Would I have chosen a different path or a different year to be a cancer center director? There are days where I think it would have been much easier,” said Robert Winn, director of VCU Massey Cancer Center.

For the next couple of weeks, until March 1, when Adekunle “Kunle” Odunsi becomes director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, Winn will remain the only Black director of an NCI-designated cancer center. (With Odunsi’s appointment, the number of Black cancer center directors doubles.)

To access this subscriber-only content please log in or subscribe.

If your institution has a site license, log in with IP-login or register for a sponsored account.*
*Not all site licenses are enrolled in sponsored accounts.

Login Subscribe
Byline
Paul Goldberg
Editor & Publisher
Table of Contents

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

PodcastThe Directors

The Directors: Tom Lynch and Skip Burris on how NIH funding cuts imperil biopharma innovation—and cost patient lives
In a time of uncertainty, “react to the knowns, not the fear”

Thomas J. Lynch Jr. and Howard A. “Skip” Burris III lead two institutions that couldn’t be more different—an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center on one side of the country and a for-profit research enterprise on the other—but they stay up at nights worrying about the same thing.
By Katie Goldberg
Capitol Hill

Grilled by Congress, Kennedy defends NIH and NCI budget cuts, freezes, and RIFs
To avoid “offending” pharma, NCI doesn’t study the causes of early-onset colon cancer, HHS secretary incorrectly alleges

In back-to-back congressional hearings earlier this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the massive staff and budget cuts over which he has presided during his nearly four months on the job as well as even bigger cuts still looming on the horizon are a part of a single plan.
By Jacquelyn Cobb and Claire Marie Porter
Clinical

Kennedy’s claims notwithstanding, NCI clinical trials are delayed, enrollments reduced
NCI’s Steven A. Rosenberg: “Almost all patients are getting delayed by about a month, but then again, we’re turning away more patients.”

Natalie Phelps, a 43-year-old mother of two, has stage 4 colorectal cancer. She has become a central figure in the controversy over the dysfunction the Trump administration’s RIFs and budget cuts have brought to NIH. 
By Jacquelyn Cobb
Byline
Paul Goldberg
Editor & Publisher
Table of Contents

Never miss an issue!

Get alerts for our award-winning coverage in your inbox.

Login

Site license subscribers:
Log in with your IP | Register a sponsored account