From June 19—21, 2025, the UVM Cancer Center hosted its inaugural Rural Health and Cancer Conference at Hotel Champlain (RHCC) in downtown Burlington. Attended by 71 health science professionals from across the country, and featuring more than a dozen speakers, the conference gathered professionals eager to share and learn about strategies for improving cancer care delivery and patient outcomes in rural communities.  

On Thursday evening, the conference’s organizer, Katelyn Queen, Ph.D., deputy associate director for the UVM Cancer Center's Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination and an assistant professor at Larner College of Medicine, kicked off the event with a welcome and introductions.  

On Friday morning, attendees heard remarks from Randall Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A., director of the UVM Cancer Center, and Richard L. Page, M.D., dean of Larner College of Medicine. Following their talk, the conference’s keynote speaker, Marquita Wenonah Lewis, Ph.D., assistant director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, set the tone for the day with her powerful remarks and storytelling in a talk titled “Intersections of Equity: Rural Cancer Health as a Model for Collaborative Solutions.”  

“Rural health is a vehicle to move health equity forward,” said Dr. Lewis, an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinburg School of Medicine. “The fruits of this journey are expanded collaborations, innovative research, interdisciplinary research, and improved outcomes for marginalized populations. It’s a space where we can reach and engage our mentees and trainees.”     

In a series of themed sessions on Friday and Saturday, experts from Hawai’i to Minnesota shared evidence-based interventions for addressing issues critical to rural cancer health, including screening and prevention, survivorship, and clinical care enrollment. The conference also featured five-minute “lighting talks” about such cancer-relevant topics as cannabis use, veterans’ health, and mental health outcomes; a patient panel attended by two UVM Cancer Center patients and facilitated by UVM Cancer Center member and Population Sciences and Cancer Outcomes co-leader, and Larner Associate Professor of Family Medicine Maija Reblin, Ph.D.; and a policy plenary session facilitated by Erika Ziller, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Health Services Research Center at the Larner College of Medicine.  On Friday evening, attendees mixed and mingled aboard a sunset cruise on Lake Champlain against a spectacular backdrop of scenic views in all directions. 

“Rural communities face persistent barriers to cancer care—yet these settings also offer unique opportunities to innovate through telehealth, tailored care models, and other means,” said Dr. Queen. “RHCC gives rural cancer care professionals from across the nation the unique opportunity to gather and share what’s working in a wide range of rural communities as we endeavor to bridge the cancer care gap.”  

For a detailed agenda, visit https://www.uvm.edu/larnermed/uvmcancercenter/rural-health-and-cancer-conference-0.