For more than 10 years, Natalie Pennywell led state Health Department outreach efforts to educate people about healthy eating and improved diets as a way to prevent and fight diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Ms. Pennywell plans to use that experience in her role as site director of the new VCU Health Hub at 25th in Church Hill that is expected to open in March.

She will lead the new center that Virginia Commonwealth University and its health system are developing to provide health and wellness programs as part of the $30 million complex going up at Fairmount Avenue and 25th Street.

The complex is to include a new grocery store, Reynolds Community College’s culinary and chef training program and new apartments.

VCU’s new center represents the health system’s first foray into the East End, which largely has been served by community doctors, a hospital owned by the Bon Secours health system, the Richmond City Health District and the nonprofit Capital Area Health Network.

According to VCU, Ms. Pennywell will be charged with creating the programs and developing community partnerships to increase residents’ access to preventive care and health education.

VCU’s efforts follow studies that indicate that lifetime residents of Church Hill have shorter life spans and struggle with more chronic diseases than more prosperous sections of Richmond just a few miles west.

Ms. Pennywell stated that the Health Hub represents “an amazing opportunity to build a supportive, sustainable and impactful community health model that incorporates” the views the community as well as health experts.

“Our vision for the VCU Health Hub is to become a trusted resource for preventative care and wellness. The center will seek to honor the area’s history while welcoming innovation,” she continued.

She pledged that the Health Hub would be “built around listening and adapting to community needs.”

The center will rely on teams of VCU faculty and students to present programs, health screenings, nutrition counseling, behavioral health support, chronic disease management and health education while connecting residents with fitness activities and community health providers.

To 7th District Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille, the new VCU center is another step in the effort to improve health in the district she represents.

“Unfortunately, there are still too many East End residents dying too early and too often from preventable or treatable health conditions,” Dr. Newbille stated. She sees the new center as a major element in changing that situation.

Ms. Pennywell said the Health Hub would work with the new grocery story to encourage people to make healthier food choices, as well as Bon Secours’ Sarah Garland Jones Center, city Health District operations and the community college’s culinary institute.

Ahead of the center’s opening, Ms. Pennywell has begun meeting with civic groups, residents, faith centers and others to gain insight into community wants and needs.

“The hub’s success will require effectively matching VCU’s available tools and resources with the East End area’s health priorities and educational needs,” she stated.