RICHMOND, Va. -- Dr. Robert Winn was introduced to the Massey nation at the Women and Wellness Luncheon in February 2020.
“To be part of that history at Massey which is one of the early NCI-Designated Cancer Centers is like a dream come true,” Dr. Winn said.
Winn is also making history. Out of the 71 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers in the nation, Winn is the first African American Cancer Director.
Becoming a doctor was not initially on his radar.
“I didn't think about becoming a doctor. I didn't think about science. I didn't think about any of that. I just thought about how I was going to get a job at General Motors,” Winn said.
Winn was born in Buffalo, New York to a teenage mother and raised in a blue-collar home. His skills on the football field would lead him to Notre Dame.
It’s a place that would change the course of his life when two educators urged him to pursue medicine.
“If these folk had not seen something in me that I clearly didn’t see in myself, we wouldn’t be here today," he said. "I still grew up in that era where just seeing a black doctor on TV, it was like 'what?' It was like 'OMG!'”
Winn would attend medical school at the University of Michigan and then would move to Chicago for his residency at Rush -Presbyterian.
There he learned from the giants in the field of pulmonary medicine.
“It's interesting how I got into the lung. It's because critical care docs and lung docs, I actually thought it sounds silly now but I thought they were the coolest people I had seen under pressure,” Winn said.
It was also personal.
“African Americans were dying in large numbers from lung cancer,” Winn said.
Winn took his skills as a clinician and researcher to premier hospitals at the University of Colorado National Jewish Health in Denver.
Winn would eventually head back to Chicago to serve as director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center and as associate vice chancellor of health affairs for community-based practice at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences Center. It’s there he focused on his mission to bring science closer to the people.
“I started doing these innovative models into our federally qualified health centers and I think that got the attention of a number of people throughout the country,” Winn said.
Including Massey.
Dr. Winn joked about being asked to apply for the job.
“I'm just going to be honest. You know, they don't have black cancer directors. Right,” Winn said.
“The folks at Massey said, 'we want you.' I said 'What!' 'We want you.' And I said, 'Are you for real?” Winn said.
And the first call about his new job was to his grandmother who grew up in Middlesex County.
“She was so happy I was coming to Virginia and be able to do good for the people in Virginia, not just Richmond,” Winn said.
Just two months into his new job, COVID hit. To get unfiltered information about the virus to the people, Winn started Facts, Faith, and Fridays.
It’s a conversation that started with a few people and has grown to over 12,000 on some days.
“This whole concept of people having to get to us is OK. But when you actually have people who need to get to us and we're trying in an authentic way to get to them, that's when the magic happens,” Winn said
What Winn is bringing to Massey is a bold plan. At the top of his list is reducing health disparities that will make healthcare accessible to underserved communities.
“I'm unapologetic about being the place and space people learn from us and the rest of the country that reduce health disparities,” Winn said.
Winn wants to increase research projects such as the one that could lead to a life without chemo.
“Come up with new therapies that are more effective and less toxic,” Winn said.
He also wants to reach young talent and make sure they answer when opportunity knocks.
“I could have been so paralyzed by the fear and self-doubt. One black guy. Why would I be the one? As opposed to this is what I've been called to do," he said.
Besides Dr. Winn, another African American is now a director at an NCI-Designated Cancer Centers. He was named just last year.
