By Amanda Kowaleski 

At every appointment, Mary Helen Hackney, M.D., greeted longtime patient Audrey Landers, Ph.D., with the same question: “What’s on your worry list today?” Landers was never shy about running through her agenda. 

“Patiently, she handles my questions and concerns,” Landers said before her passing in September 2025. “At the end of what are generally long conversations, she gives my husband a hug as she leaves the room. Sometimes I get a hug, too.” 

For Hackney, a senior leader in breast cancer treatment, survivorship and risk reduction, making time for her patients is a top priority. 

“One of the things we’re able to do at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is not worry about having someone sitting with a stopwatch and saying, ‘You have 10 minutes to see your patients,’” explained Hackney, an oncologist who serves as medical director of community oncology at Massey. “Some patients need more time than others, and you’re able to build those relationships.” 

She makes a point to learn about her patients’ interests outside of the clinical setting. For Landers, it was her love of tennis and ballroom dancing. Hackney believes these glimpses into their home lives reinforce their humanity in the minds of the clinical care team. 

Landers admitted it was a relationship she never wanted. “I wish I’d never met her. After all, who wouldn’t like to go through life without ever meeting an oncologist? I haven’t been that fortunate.” 

Despite the circumstances, the pair formed what Landers described as “an unusual connection” — one that led her to endow a professorship to honor the physician she said was grateful to have by her side. 

Giving one of the highest faculty honors 

Landers’ journey with breast cancer began in 1989 and eventually brought her into Hackney’s care in 2012. Then in 2019, her health took what she called an “extremely arduous turn” — the cancer metastasized. 

In 2021, Landers joined Massey Club, a leadership annual giving society aimed at supporting scientists and physicians as they continue to push the boundaries of innovative cancer research and care. Then in 2023, she made a gift to launch Massey’s cold-capping program, a therapy method used to reduce hair loss caused by chemotherapy. In 2025, inspired by Hackney, Landers’ generosity created the Commonwealth Endowed Professorship in Breast Cancer Excellence. 

An endowed professorship is one of the highest honors that can be granted to a faculty member and is critical to recruiting and retaining top physicians and scientists. Hackney is the first to be appointed to the new Commonwealth Endowed Professorship.  

Mary Helen Hackney, M.D. (right), is an oncologist with VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. (Tom Kojcsich, VCU Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

“The usual adjectives have been used to describe Dr. Hackney: dedicated, bright, knowledgeable, caring, compassionate, empathic and direct. However, I expect those things,” Landers said. “What’s exceptional about her is that she gets me.”

As a retired clinical psychologist whose career accolades included becoming the first female faculty member to join the University of Alabama’s Department of Psychology and serving on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, Landers valued the importance of education and understood why it’s vital to the cutting-edge work happening at Massey. 

“With an endowed professorship added to the existing stellar collection of faculty and researchers at Massey, it is my hope that more of the best and the brightest will be competing to work there,” Landers said. 

That hope for the future is something Hackney takes seriously. 

“People have asked why I stay in academic medicine,” said Hackney, who completed her residency and fellowship training at the VCU School of Medicine. “I want to be able to teach the next generation how to take care of patients like I’d want to be taken care of. When I’m not practicing anymore, there will be somebody else practicing that excellence in care.” 

Compassionate cancer care: ‘You can’t replace a hand hold’ 

Since joining Massey’s faculty in 1994, Hackney has seen an evolution in cancer care. From the building of multidisciplinary teams to a growing slate of clinical trial offerings, she has watched the cancer center advance what it means to provide cohesive care to address all aspects of patient needs. But even as Massey embraces new technologies like artificial intelligence, one thing remains the same: There will never be a substitute for compassionate physicians. 

“You can’t replace a hand hold. You can’t replace a hug. You have to be there for the patient,” Hackney said. “When you are a cancer doctor, you have to have that core appreciation and understanding of life.” 

Landers shared her own appreciation for her oncologist’s extraordinary dedication, expertise and collaboration. She said she was inspired by the play “Airline Highway.” 

“In the play there is a living funeral for the main character, who’s dying but wants to be present when her friends celebrate her life. In a similar fashion, I want to know that Dr. Hackney, her name and her passion, will be forever remembered in this special way.” 

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