As director of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Robert A. Winn, MD, oversees a cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that provides advanced cancer care, conducts groundbreaking research to discover new therapies for cancer, offers high-quality education and training, and engages with the community to make advancements in cancer treatment and prevention equally available to all. He is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model of equity for cancer science and care, in which the community is informing and partnering with Massey on its research to best address the cancer burden and disparities of those the cancer center serves, with a local focus but global impact.

His current basic science research, which has been supported by multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Veterans Affairs Merit awards, focuses on the molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for human models of lung cancer. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 published manuscripts in peer-reviewed academic journals.

As a pulmonologist, Dr. Winn is committed to community-engaged research centered on eliminating health disparities. He is a principal investigator on several community-based projects funded by the NIH and NCI, including the All of Us Research Program, an NIH precision medicine initiative. Dr. Winn has nearly 20 years’ commitment to Veterans Affairs health services and held appointments at the Denver VA and Jesse Brown VA in Chicago, where he established the first multidisciplinary pulmonary nodule clinic.

Dr. Winn is the president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI); the chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; a fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy; and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society and LUNGevity Foundation. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Dr. Winn has received the National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities CURE Program Lifetime Achievement Award; the AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship; the AACI Cancer Health Equity Award; and the Prevent Cancer Foundation Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Laurel Award for Increasing Health Equity. In 2022, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program was renamed the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program (Winn Award), which is committed to increasing diversity in clinical trials and training the new generation of community-oriented clinical researchers.

Dr. Winn holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MD from the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Jennifer W. Pegher, MA, MBA, was named executive director of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) in October 2018. She is the second executive director in AACI’s history.

Pegher joined AACI in 2012 as government relations manager. In 2015, she was named director of government relations, and in 2018, deputy director. Before joining AACI, Pegher served as executive director of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation. Previously, she worked in Washington, DC, for former Congressman Philip S. English of Pennsylvania and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (formerly the National Association of Federal Credit Unions).

Under Pegher’s leadership, AACI has increased its cancer center membership, welcomed new corporate and sustaining members, and formed new partnerships with like-minded organizations. Additional accomplishments include establishing task forces to address conflicts of interest, staff retention, and diversity, equity, and inclusion; overseeing presidential initiatives focused on cancer-related public policy, mitigating cancer disparities, and enhancing diversity in the cancer center leadership pipeline; and expanded opportunities for networking, including new listservs dedicated to special roles and topics, and meetings for new cancer center directors.

Pegher earned her master of arts degree in government at the Johns Hopkins University and her bachelor of arts degree in political science at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. In December 2023, she earned her Executive MBA in Healthcare at the University of Pittsburgh.