UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center

UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only cancer center in Virginia named a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

We are also one of only 52 centers in the United States to receive this designation, the highest recognition the NCI gives. We're part of renowned group of leaders in cancer research, prevention, detection and treatment and strive to stay ahead of the curve in innovation, technology and, most importantly, patient care. Our center is accredited through The Joint Commission, Commission on Cancer, Na

tional Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), and Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). You don't just have to visit us at the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center in Charlottesville, VA. You can access care in other locations throughout Central Virginia, including clinics in Fishersville, Culpeper and Pantops. Talk to your provider about finding care that's close to you.

Coming soon: The 2026 UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Grants funding cycle opens July 1.This year’s funding wi...
06/23/2026

Coming soon: The 2026 UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Grants funding cycle opens July 1.

This year’s funding will focus on the Impact Grant, a 24-month grant for implementation-ready, evidence-based projects that address cancer burden in communities across the UVA Cancer Center catchment area.

Letters of Intent will be due July 31, 2026, by 12 p.m. ET.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/UVACommunityGrants

While June is Cancer Immunotherapy Month, for Immunologist Ileana Mauldin, PhD, advancing cancer treatment through the p...
06/20/2026

While June is Cancer Immunotherapy Month, for Immunologist Ileana Mauldin, PhD, advancing cancer treatment through the power of the immune system is a year-round mission.

Dr. Mauldin investigates the tumor microenvironment, the complex ecosystem surrounding cancer cells, to uncover new ways to overcome tumors’ protective barriers using immunotherapy. Her work focuses on understanding how individual patients may respond to these treatments, and identifying strategies to enhance their effectiveness.

A major area of her research centers on T cells and their potential to target and destroy cancer. She is developing therapies delivered directly into tumors to increase T-cell infiltration and strengthen their ability to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. “What’s fascinating is that you can train your immune cells to do almost anything, fight bacteria, viruses, and cancer,” Dr. Mauldin said.

Learn more about Dr. Mauldin’s research: https://med.virginia.edu/faculty/faculty-listing/is3v/

Did you know that when cells encounter extreme stress, they can hibernate to survive? UVA’s Ahmad Jomaa, PhD, and Simone...
06/19/2026

Did you know that when cells encounter extreme stress, they can hibernate to survive? UVA’s Ahmad Jomaa, PhD, and Simone Mattei, PhD, of the European Bioinformatics Institute, have uncovered a unique factor that can rouse hibernating cells inside the cells’ ribosomes, structures that turn genetic instructions into protein messengers to drive cell functions. They named the factor SNOR, after the popular Pokémon Snorlax.

Dr. Jomaa found that when faced with challenges like nutrient deprivation, ribosomes can pause cell functions. For example, cancer cells could consider treatments a threat to their survival and go dormant during its course. Then months, years, or even decades later, when the cell determines that the threat has passed, SNOR jump-starts the sleeping cell’s ribosomes, allowing cell activities to resume and the disease to return.

The teams used high-tech imaging tools to construct detailed 3-D pictures of ribosomes. They confirmed SNOR exists in most fungi, and suspect it also exists in eukaryotic cells, a type found in plants, animals, and people.

Dr. Jomaa’s team hopes their work will lead to better treatments for drug-resistant fungi and cancer. “Because this ‘sleep and wake’ cycle exists across biology, from microbes to humans, it gives us a new way to think about how cells survive tough conditions,” he said.

Read more about Dr. Jomaa’s research: https://www.uvahealth.com/news/discovery-evolves-our-understanding-of-how-dormant-cells-awaken

Collaborative research led by Bon Trinh, PhD, and Trinh lab postdoctoral associates A.S.M. Waliullah, PhD, and An Nguyen...
06/13/2026

Collaborative research led by Bon Trinh, PhD, and Trinh lab postdoctoral associates A.S.M. Waliullah, PhD, and An Nguyen, PhD, identified a circuit that helps control the development and immune functions of two vital types of white blood: monocytes and macrophages.

Dr. Trinh and researchers from School of Medicine at the University of Virginia, Harvard Medical School, Tufts University School of Medicine, and VCU School of Medicine on the MCV Campus used advanced genomic analyses and cell modeling to understand how the blood cell-regulating proteins, PU.1 and C/EBPα, work together with a molecule discovered by Dr. Trinh, LOUP, to drive immune cell development, function, and identity.

Their work revealed that the C/EBPα protein initiates a circuit, wherein the PU.1 protein and the LOUP molecule activate and support each other, guiding white blood cell formation and differentiation as monocytes and macrophages. They also found that when LOUP levels were reduced, white blood cells displayed compromised maturation, attenuated inflammatory signaling, and weakened phagocytic function.

The findings, published in the American Society of Hematology's scientific journal, Blood, advance our understanding of how the immune system is programmed and the effects of abnormal white blood cell development. “Because abnormal PU.1 and C/EBPα activity has been linked to blood cancers and immune disorders, the newly identified PU.1–LOUP regulatory circuit may offer promising new directions for research into inflammatory diseases and myeloid malignancies such as leukemia,” Dr. Trinh said.

Read more about Dr. Trinh’s research: https://news.med.virginia.edu/research/multi-institutional-study-led-by-bon-trinh-phd-uncovers-genetic-control-circuit-that-shapes-key-immune-cells/

Tianpeng Zhang, PhD, has received a five-year, $2.2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Ge...
06/12/2026

Tianpeng Zhang, PhD, has received a five-year, $2.2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant to study how some of the most devastating cancers function at the genetic level.

Inside cells, DNA strands coil up to form the chromosomes that package our genetic material. At the chromosomes’ tips, repeating DNA segments create protective caps called telomeres. As our cells age, multiply, or experience stress, telomeres shrink until healthy cells die a natural death. Cancer cells, however, reverse the process to survive and spread. In most forms of the disease, cancer cells produce an enzyme that makes telomeres grow.

A rarer process, alternate lengthening of telomeres (ALT), exploits a natural DNA repair method called break-induced replication. ALT-positive cancers include the pediatric bone cancer osteosarcoma, pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, and the deadliest form of brain cancer, glioblastoma.

Dr. Zhang and his team seek to understand how the break-induced replication occurs in ALT telomeres, with the goal of finding better ways to prevent or treat these conditions.

Congratulations, Dr. Zhang, and good luck!

Read about Dr. Zhang’s award: https://bit.ly/41vvYJK

Kelsey Day, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral research associate in the UVA Department of Public Health Sciences, has received a ...
06/05/2026

Kelsey Day, PhD, MPH, a postdoctoral research associate in the UVA Department of Public Health Sciences, has received a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute grant supporting her work with rural churches and parks and recreation departments to expand physical activity programs.

The NCI’s Pathway to Independence Award (K99) grants help postdoctoral researchers complete their mentored training and transition into independent research. Dr. Day works under the mentorship of Cancer Center members Becca Krukowski, PhD, and Jamie Zoellner, PhD, RD.

Rural parks and recreation programs are often held in single locations far from many residents, while churches’ fellowship halls, playgrounds, outdoor spaces, and other facilities are more evenly dispersed, offering a unique opportunity for community-focused collaboration. "Increasing physical activity among rural residents is a priority because they face a greater burden of many chronic diseases, including several types of cancer, that are related to physical inactivity," Dr. Day said. She will work with rural residents, their churches, and parks and recreation departments to craft and refine physical activity programs they can offer residents together.

Congratulations, Dr. Day, and good luck!

Learn more about the Department of Public Health Sciences: https://med.virginia.edu/phs/

UVA Department of Surgery resident Emily Ninmer, MD, is concluding two years of residency research in the lab of her men...
05/30/2026

UVA Department of Surgery resident Emily Ninmer, MD, is concluding two years of residency research in the lab of her mentor, Craig Slingluff, MD. Dr. Slingluff is a world leader in immunotherapy, therapies that boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, and developing cancer vaccines, a type of immunotherapy that activates the immune system to specifically target cancer cells. Dr. Ninmer studies how T cells from normal lymph nodes of melanoma patients may contribute to their immune response against melanoma cells in nearby lymph nodes, and whether T cells activated by a vaccine can infiltrate and fight melanoma tumors.

Dr. Ninmer’s research aspirations were made a reality through the Rebecca “Becca” Clary Harris, MD, Memorial Fellowship, which honors the memory of the UVA alumnus and Slingluff lab member. Dr. Harris was dedicated to melanoma care and immunotherapy research. She passed away suddenly in 2007 before completing her fellowship in the Slingluff lab. The Rebecca Clary Harris Fellowship gift is fostering the next generation of clinical and translational post-doctoral research at UVA.

Dr. Ninmer’s research alongside Dr. Slingluff has led him to design two clinical trials evaluating potential treatment methods. In her own career, she hopes to “continue building on the work Dr. Harris so passionately pursued,” she said, through her own tumor immunology and immunotherapy research.

Learn about Drs. Ninmer and Slingluff’s research and the Rebecca Clary Harris Fellowship: https://giving.uvahealth.com/article/gift-time

We would like to congratulate our UVA Health Oncology Nurses for their presentations at this year's Oncology Nursing Soc...
05/18/2026

We would like to congratulate our UVA Health Oncology Nurses for their presentations at this year's Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress!

ONS Congress focuses on education, collaboration, and innovation, and brings together thousands of oncology nurses and healthcare professionals from across the globe.

Thank you to all of you for representing UVA Health and for the comprehensive, high-quality care you provide for our patients!

05/15/2026

UVACCC has joined PRECEDE! We are proud to partner with the UVA Health initiative to continue to transform pancreatic cancer outcomes—aiming to increase five-year survival rates from just 12.8% to 50%.

Because pancreatic cancer is often hard to detect early, data-sharing is the key to a breakthrough. UVA Health is already making a major impact with 170 patients enrolled in PRECEDE via their High-Risk Pancreatic Screening Clinic. Launched in 2013 by Clinic Director and Chief of Surgical Oncology, Dr. Todd Bauer, alongside Kathleen Haden, RN, MSN, ANP-C, this program was a national pioneer and the very first in Virginia dedicated to individuals with significant risk factors.

We are honored to support the clinicians and researchers at the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center in our shared mission to change the future of pancreatic cancer detection. Let's get to work!💜

UVACCC has joined the Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Consortium (PRECEDE), in support of its goal to increase five-ye...
05/15/2026

UVACCC has joined the Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Consortium (PRECEDE), in support of its goal to increase five-year pancreatic cancer survival rates from just 12.8 to 50%.

Pancreatic cancer affects 1.7% of adults, but is the third-leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths because it often develops and spreads before clear symptoms appear. The only effective curative treatment, surgery, works just 10-15% of the time.

PRECEDE is the largest-ever assemblage of pancreatic cancer data and biospecimens, and the only global initiative designed to drive discovery by providing open access to researchers and industry alike. Patient participants consent for information like their family histories and blood tests to be studied across the consortium, providing critical data and stimulating vital research progress.

At UVA, 170 patients have already enrolled in PRECEDE through the High-Risk Pancreatic Screening Clinic established in 2013 by Todd Bauer, MD, Clinic Director and Chief of Surgical Oncology, and Kathleen Haden, RN, MSN, ANP-C. The clinic was one of the earliest programs in the country for people with significant pancreatic cancer risk factors, and the first in Virginia. It is located at UVA Health’s Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center, which is named in honor of the late State Sen. Emily Couric, who died of the disease in 2001.

The Consortium is supported by the Precede Foundation, which offsets patient enrollment costs, provides research assistance, trial funding, and resources for clinicians, researchers, genetic counselors, and clinical research coordinators.

Read about PRECEDE: https://uvaconnect.com/uva-comprehensive-cancer-center-joins-international-consortium-to-improve-pancreatic-cancer-early-detection-and-survival/

Address

1240 Lee Street
Charlottesville, VA
22903

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 1pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center:

Shortcuts

Share

Category