Pleural Space | Conversations in Lung Cancer American College of Radiology and National Lung Cancer Roundtable

Welcome to "Lung Cancer 201: Expanding Horizons," our new series focusing on the challenges unique to established programs, clinicians, researchers, and advocates. You've made it past the first hurdle; time to explore what's next. 
In this first episode, Dr. Ella Kazerooni sits down with Dr. Robert Smith and Dr. Gerard Silvestri to discuss advances in the lung cancer space in 2022, including the "One Million Screens" paper, the benefits of the roundtable model, and National Lung Cancer Screening Day. 
Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, is a Professor of Radiology & Internal Medicine, and serves as the Associate Chief Clinical Officer for the Diagnostic and Clinical Information Oversight Team within the University of Michigan Medical Group (UMMG). Dr. Kazerooni is the inaugural chair of the American Cancer Society’s Lung Cancer Roundtable (NLCRT), current Chair of the American College of Radiology's (ACR) lung cancer screening registry and LungRADS committee, and serves as the vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline on Lung Cancer Screening. Robert Smith, PhD, is a cancer epidemiologist and Senior Vice President, Cancer Screening at the American Cancer Society (ACS). Dr. Smith was one of the founding members of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, and has served as its Co-Director for 20 years. He also is a founding member of the NLCRT and the Principle Investigator of the first 3-year supporting grant. Gerard Silvestri, MD, MS, is a lung cancer pulmonologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, and served on the DSMB of the national PLCO screening trial representing the lung arm of the trial as well as part of the epidemiology working group for the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). Dr. Silvestri also serves as a Steering Committee member and Task Group Chair on the NLCRT. 
 
Content note: this episode contains stigmatizing language. The American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology are committed to the adoption of language, phrasing, and imagery that are person-first, judgment-free, and non-stigmatizing when discussing lung cancer. This shift in language takes time and dedicated effort, and slips happen. For information on how to eliminate lung cancer stigma in your speech patterns, written work, and presentations, please visit https://www.iaslc.org/IASLCLanguageGuide for the IASLC’s Language Guide.
Additional information on this episode’s topic and guests, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources. Access the recordings of the 2022 webinar series that inspired this podcast series at https://pages.acr.org/NLCRT_Accelerating_Screening_Uptake.html.

To wrap up our “Power of Partnerships” series, Dr. Douglas Wood has a conversation about the thoracic surgeon’s role in lung cancer with fellow thoracic surgeons Dr. Leah Backhus, Dr. Tom Varghese, and Dr. Farhood Farjah. They discuss the surgeon’s role in screening programs, evaluating nodules from a surgical perspective, and how to avoid harm and minimize unnecessary surgery for patients without cancer.
Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd is the Chair of Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and a physician with the Seattle Care Alliance. Dr. Wood has previously served as president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS is an Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Backhus is the Co-Director of the Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program and Associate Program Director of the Thoracic CT Surgery Residency Training Program at Stanford. Thomas K. Varghese Jr., MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Surgery and the Head of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah. Dr. Varghese has also previously served as the Interim Executive Medical Director at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Farhood Farjah, MD, MPH, FACS is an Associate Professor of Surgery and an Endowed Chair of Lung Cancer Research at the University of Washington. Dr. Farjah is a physician with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
As a follow-up to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.
Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.

Continuing the focus on patients, Dr. Efrén J. Flores speaks with Dr. Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, Alexandra L. Potter, and Angela Zhou from the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative about outreach to populations vulnerable to lung cancer that are underserved in lung screening. This includes identifying how stigma is a barrier, finding ways to establish education and trust in communities typically distrustful of the medical establishment, and interdisciplinary approaches to cancer screening.
Efrén J. Flores, MD, is a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also serves as Officer of Radiology Community Health Improvement and Equity, and an Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, MD, is an attending thoracic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. The American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative (ALSCI) was founded by Dr. Yang and Alexandra L. Potter, Director of ALSCI, to spread awareness about the importance of lung cancer screening for high-risk patients. Angela Zhou is the Outreach Coordinator for ALSCI.
As a follow-up to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.
Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.

For 2022's National Patient Recognition Week, Elridge Proctor of the Go2 Foundation sits down with Heidi and Pierre Onda of the White Ribbon Project and Nichelle Stigger from LUNGevity to discuss how they went from patient to patient advocates and ways those without lung cancer can use their voices for change.
Elridge Proctor, MPA, is the Senior Director for Government Affairs and Public Policy at the Go2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, with over 15 years of experience in patient advocacy and non-profit work. Heidi Onda, MS, is a health educator and fitness trainer as well as a lung cancer survivor. She and her husband Pierre Onda, MD, MPH, founded "The White Ribbon Project" in 2020 to promote awareness and the idea that “anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.” Nichelle Stigger is a middle school teacher and Board Member for the LUNGevity Foundation who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016.    
As a followup to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.
Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.

Dr. Debra Dyer and experienced patient advocates Rhonda Meckstroth and Gina Hollenbeck discuss shifting lung cancer from a quantitative perspective to a patient and family centered one, including changing the face of lung cancer, and how medicine can further support patients beginning immediately post diagnosis.
Debra Dyer, MD, FACR, is the Chair of Radiology at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Dyer also leads the lung screening program at National Jewish Health, and serves as Committee Chair of the ACR’s Lung Cancer Screening Steering Committee. Rhonda Meckstroth has been a patient advocate since 2015, when her husband Jeff was diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell adenocarcinoma with an ALK mutation. Mrs. Meckstroth serves on the NLCRT Task Force Triage for Appropriate Treatment and Stigma/Nihilism Task Force, and is a leader in the ALK Positive Support Group. Gina Hollenbeck, BSN, started her work in lung cancer advocacy when she was diagnosed with stage IV ALK positive lung cancer in 2015. Mrs. Hollenbeck was Board President of ALK Positive Inc, and now serves on the executive board.   
As a followup to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.
Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.

Dr. Nichole Tanner, nurse practitioner Shannon Magee, and experienced patient advocate Jim Pantelas discuss the unique challenges of treating lung cancer through the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital system, and the support provided to veterans pre- and post-diagnosis.
Nichole Tripician Tanner, MD, MSCR, is a pulmonologist at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina, with a joint appointment as a Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Dr. Tanner has led the lung screening program at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center since 2013, as well as the lung screening program at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Shannon Magee, FNP, has been the lead nurse navigator for the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center's lung screening program since 2015. Jim Pantelas is a 15-year cancer survivor and navy veteran who has partnered with the Go2 Foundation for Lung Cancer to lobby Capitol Hill for increased funding for lung cancer research and early detection programs.
As a followup to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.
Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.