Vanessa LaTanya Hill, MPH, MFA, LSSGB, is the Founder and Executive Director of Project Nana, Inc., a community-driven nonprofit advancing gynecologic cancer prevention, early detection, and postmenopausal health among Seasoned Women. She is a nationally recognized health equity leader whose work operates at the intersection of community engagement, clinical systems change, and public health practice to reduce late-stage cancer diagnoses in underserved populations.

Ms. Hill serves as Manager of Community Health, Health Impact & Engagement at Sentara Health, an integrated, not-for-profit healthcare system serving Virginia and North Carolina. In this role, she designs and implements community-based strategies addressing chronic disease prevention and management, including hypertension control and culturally responsive, community-centered initiatives such as Sacred Wholeness (clergy wellness), Stress Busters (mental wellness and movement), 3C (Cancer, Food as Medicine, Movement as Medicine, and Mental Wellbeing), and faith-based blood pressure management programs in partnership with the American Heart Association. Her work focuses on bridging clinical care and community trust, particularly among midlife and Seasoned Women.

She is the creator of the Month 13™ framework, an innovative, community-informed model that redefines the postmenopausal life stage and guides culturally responsive strategies for prevention, early detection, and sustained engagement in care. Drawing on her training in public health, the arts, and Lean Six Sigma methodologies, Ms. Hill translates complex clinical and epidemiologic data into culturally resonant narratives, redesigns engagement pathways, and implements strategies that drive care-seeking behavior, strengthen patient–provider connection, and ultimately support earlier detection and improved outcomes.

Ms. Hill is actively engaged in national and regional research and policy efforts, including the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Health Policy & Education Committee; the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Gynecologic Cancer Steering Committee Clinical Trials Planning Meeting on endometrial cancer in the immunotherapy era; the VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center; SGO Pathways to Progress; the Regional Cancer Disparities Collaborative of Eastern Virginia; and the Health Equity Collaborative of Virginia.

She serves as Co-Investigator on Project Nana: An Intervention to Increase the Use of Gynecologic Services in Seasoned Women of Color, reflecting her commitment to community-engaged research and implementation science. Her scholarship has been published in Older Women & Wellbeing: A Global Perspective (Springer Nature, 2021).

Her work has received national recognition, including the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s Alfred A. Chiplin Jr. Award for Social Justice and Advocacy, the CBS WTKR NewsChannel 3 Everyday Hero Award, and the Foundation for Women’s Cancer Patient Advocate Champion Award. She is also a TEDx speaker focused on reframing aging and advancing equity in women’s health.

Grounded in generational legacy and lived experience, Ms. Hill brings both professional expertise and personal conviction to her work—ensuring that the women too often missed by traditional healthcare systems are seen, heard, and reached. She is the daughter of Rev. Dr. Gail LaNetta Henderson, the granddaughter of Merlice Yvonne McIntosh Henderson, the great-granddaughter of Beatrice Rolle McIntosh, and the great-great granddaughter of Melvina Sweeting Rolle. She knows her roots. She knows her mission. And she walks in humility as the potent promise of her powerful ancestors.