In oncology, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is synonymous with the highest standard of cancer research in the U.S. Nearly 50 years ago, Massey Cancer Center first became an NCI-designated cancer center in 1975 and has maintained this status every five years – when the NCI evaluates Massey for its transdisciplinary research and approaches to cancer prevention and treatment. This year, the NCI declared Massey a Comprehensive Cancer Center, its highest level of recognition. In this episode, Dr. Robert A. Winn, director of the VCU Massey Cancer Center and senior associate dean for cancer innovation and professor of pulmonary disease and critical care medicine at the VCU School of Medicine, discusses Massey’s latest NCI achievement, and explains the impact this accolade will have on the cancer center and its community. An NCI-designation is not just an award. It comes with an array of opportunities for cancer centers to deepen their research, recruit top-tier scientists and advance pathways for new cancer treatments.