About Us
The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, located in Ward 8, offers a dynamic patient navigation model that supports early detection (screening), diagnostic, treatment and preventative measures for breast, prostate, colorectal, lung and other cancers. The center also provides tailored community outreach, engagement and educational programming to vulnerable populations east of the Anacostia River, including Wards 6, 7 and 8.
Building upon the programming and impact of the previous practices of the Capital Breast Care Center, which provided breast cancer screening and education for some of D.C.’s most underserved communities for more than 15 years, the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention is expanding its services to address colorectal, lung and prostate cancers — the most common types of cancer disproportionately affecting people in the district’s metropolitan area.
The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention’s patient navigators ensure that, when necessary, individuals are able to reach Georgetown’s academic health system partner, MedStar Health, for specialized care or to participate in groundbreaking clinical trials made possible through Georgetown Lombardi.
When cancer care is needed, the navigators engage families about their treatment options and share clinical trial opportunities capable of improving health — thereby increasing the diversity of representation in clinical research that is essential to developing inclusive therapies and further informing our community engagement strategies in a virtuous cycle of research and intervention. Our patient participants contribute to evidence-based research literature, with a current emphasis on Black and Hispanic women. This research is conducted through the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research at Georgetown Lombardi.
Dr. Lucile Adams-Campbell serves as the director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention, bringing decades of research experience and leadership. She is also the associate director for the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research at Georgetown Lombardi. Her areas of research focus include addressing health disparities with an emphasis on cancers that disproportionately impact minority and underserved populations.
Our Founding
The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention is made possible through funding from the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation’s 2022 $25 million commitment to expand or establish five Ralph Lauren-named cancer centers across the U.S. with the goal of reducing disparities in cancer care and prevention among underserved communities.
Georgetown Lombardi’s Ralph Lauren Center officially opened in April 2023.
Ralph Lauren has a longstanding history of support and collaboration with Georgetown Lombardi. In 1989, Ralph Lauren, alongside Katharine Graham, co-founded the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research in honor of their close friend and former fashion editor of The Washington Post, Nina Hyde.
Today, the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research represents a multidisciplinary collaboration for Georgetown Lombardi’s basic scientists, population researchers, and clinician-scientists who are working to more deeply understand the biology of breast cancer in order to discover new prevention measures and, ultimately, a cure for the disease.
Over the years, the Ralph Lauren Corporation and Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation have focused a key pillar of their philanthropic efforts on giving to cancer care and prevention causes and organizations. This includes the company’s annual Pink Pony Initiative, launched in 2000, which helps to raise awareness and funds for programs and centers, like Georgetown Lombardi, that support research, screenings, early diagnosis, treatment, education and patient navigation.