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Committee to steward foundation’s educational resources and outreach programs

NEW YORK, NY (September 6, 2022) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is pleased to announce the appointment of a select group of volunteers to its newly formed Education & Engagement Committee. Comprised of clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers and advocates, this committee is tasked with ensuring that LCRF is providing educational content that is relevant, helpful, and meets the needs of the lung cancer community. In addition, it will ensure these resources are readily available to inform and empower individuals on their lung cancer journey.

The new committee grew out of LCRF’s Patient Education Review Committee, led by Dr. Narjust Florez and Dr. Joan Schiller. Dr. Isabel Preeshagul is chair of the new Education & Engagement Committee, and Drs. Florez and Schiller remain critical advisors.

“I am so pleased to see the evolution of this advisory committee,” says Dr. Schiller. “Working with Dr. Preeshagul and the LCRF staff to deliver programs and resources that meet the needs of lung cancer patients, their caregivers, and their healthcare teams is an important part of ensuring that LCRF is able to deliver on its research commitments.”

“I’m delighted to be chairing this incredible committee,” commented Dr. Preeshagul. “With Dr. Schiller’s invaluable experience and guidance, this dedicated group of volunteers will make certain that LCRF’s programs and resources are always timely, accurate, and accessible for all patients with lung cancer and those who care for them. This committee’s varied membership provides us with a diverse perspective, ensuring that we continue to deliver high quality comprehensive information. I’m excited about the positive difference we’re making in the lives of patients, caregivers, and their families through LCRF’s programs.”

“As a primary caregiver to someone with a lung cancer diagnosis, having access to resources, information, and experts in the field is important to me – and raising awareness of lung cancer without stigma even more so,” says Rhonda Meckstroth. “LCRF has been a resource for me, and I’m honored to be a part of such an important committee. I can lend my experience to help others in my shoes, and help people understand that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.”

Members of the Education & Engagement Committee serve a two-year term and share a commitment to the mission of LCRF: to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer.

LCRF’s Education & Engagement Committee Members:

Isabel Preeshagul, DO, MBS
Committee Chair
Assistant Attending Physician, Thoracic Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Sydney Barned, MD
Survivor and Advocate
Internal Medicine Hospitalist
Anne Arundel Medical Center

Dave Bjork
Survivor and Advocate
Vice President of Empowerment
GRYT Health

Phil Bonomi, MD, MS
Professor Emeritus
Rush University Medical Center

Meghan Cox    
Advocate         

Denise D. Cutlip
Survivor and Advocate

Devika Das, MD, MSHQS
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Section Chief of Oncology, Birmingham VA Medical Center

Narjust Florez (Duma), MD
Associate Director, Cancer Care Equity Program
Thoracic Medical Oncologist
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Cancer Center
Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School

Kathryn A. Gold, MD
Clinical Professor of Medicine  
University of California San Diego, Moores Cancer Center

Benjamin Philip Levy, MD
Clinical Director of Medical Oncology   
Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
Associate Professor of Oncology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Stephen V. Liu, MD      
Thoracic Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine
Georgetown University
Director of Thoracic Oncology and the Head of Developmental Therapeutics
Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Rhonda Meckstroth
Caregiver and Advocate

Catherine Paykin, MSSW, LCSW
Social Worker
NYU Langone Health

Jyoti D. Patel, MD
Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Rachel Sanborn, MD
Medical Director, Thoracic Oncology Program
Medical Director of Phase I Clinical Trials Program
Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, Earle A. Chiles Research Institute at Providence Cancer Institute

Joan H. Schiller, MD     
Deputy Director, Inova Schar Cancer Center (Emeritus)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine
University of Virginia

Nagashree Seetharamu, MD, MBBS      
Medical Oncologist, Thoracic and Head and Neck Oncology      
Monter Cancer Center, Northwell Health Center for Advanced Medicine
Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Christos Stavropoulos, MD, FACS          
Director of Thoracic Oncology
The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center (Englewood Health)

Ishwaria M. Subbiah, MD, MS
Medical Oncologist
Palliative Care and Integrative Medicine Physician        
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit LCRF.org.

Posted in AnnouncementsTagged
The good news:

Two pieces of good news, actually… (1) the FDA has approved a new, targeted drug for patients with HER-2 positive NSCLC: trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd or Enhertu©), and (2) it has a unique mechanism of action that will open the door to a new class of drugs: antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs.

Who it impacts:

Patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer for whom a first-line therapy has failed, and whose tumor harbors a mutation in HER-2 gene.

Why it’s significant:

Unlike breast cancer, HER-2 mutations are rare in non-small cell lung cancer (about 5% of all NSCLCs). Until now, there has been no drug approved for specifically targeting these mutations, as there have been for tumors with EGFR mutations, for example.

T-DXd is an antibody hooked up to a type of chemotherapy (a topoisomerase I inhibitor). When given intravenously, the antibody portion of the molecule binds to cells with a mutated HER-2 on their surface. The molecule is taken up by the cancer cell, and the linker between the antibody and the chemotherapy drug is broken, so the drug will be delivered very specifically only to cancer cells that have a mutated HER-2.

The drug was approved based up a clinical trial (DESTINY-Lung02), which reported an impressive response rate of close to 60% in these previously treated patients. This was a conditional approval, meaning that because of the exciting results, the FDA will allow T-DXd on the market. However, since DESTINY-Lung02 was a small study, the manufacturer will need to conduct a larger, confirmatory Phase 3 study to get full approval. T-DXd has been approved for breast and gastric cancers, but this is the first time an antibody-drug conjugate has been approved for the treatment of lung cancer patients, so this can also be seen as a “proof of concept” for ADCs.

Read more
Posted in FDA News, Research, Science Made SimpleTagged , ,

Reina Honts, LCRF Board Chair, recently hosted a Shopping for a Cause event at her residence with local family and friends with funds raised going towards lung cancer research.

Her daughter, Reine, also hosted her annual Bracelets & Cookies sale! Reine and her friends, Charlotte and Bordley, raised $1,250 together for research. You go girls!

Thank you to Reina and her family for coming together and creating creative ideas to fundraise their way!

The events may have passed but there is always time to support Reina and Reine!

Donate
Reine (right), Charlotte and Bordley
Posted in Fundraise Your Way, Fundraising

Emily Bannister passed away on March 14, 2023 from complications caused by Stage IV lung cancer.

Doctor surprised by diagnosis finds hope through biomarker testing

My name is Emily Bannister and I have lung cancer. I never thought in a million years that would be something that I would encounter, especially at my age – I was only 46 when I was diagnosed almost a year ago. I had just left my job in occupational medicine and was in the process of starting my own practice. My husband and I had a 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old twins. Lung cancer was not part of the life I had pictured.

We have a really tough problem with air quality here in Minnesota in July. I didn’t really think anything of it when I had trouble breathing. But then, I started to have this really strange sort of whistling sound when I’d lie down. I was wheezing when I breathed in and out, but I heard it in my throat, not from my chest. I don’t have any history of asthma. I’m a doctor, and I had to look up wheezing while supine. The two things associated with that were GERD – acid reflux – and sleep apnea. I happen to have both, and those were my only chronic medical problems. Then on July 15, I noticed that my heart rate really went up when I went up and down the stairs while I was about to go to the Y. I got there and it turned out my trainer canceled. As I was sitting in the parking lot, I just said, no, something’s wrong. So I went to urgent care.

Of all things, that was the one day that my lung exam was abnormal – my wheezing was faint and I wasn’t coughing. They did a chest x-ray and said they thought I had right upper lobe pneumonia, which I’d had a few years earlier. I was given antibiotics but after a few days I didn’t see any response. I decided that I needed to go back because I didn’t think the antibiotics were working, and I knew other medication was available.

The doctor said, your lungs are clear, your labs are normal. I just want you to wait and see how it goes. I had a follow-up appointment two weeks later, and the standard of practice is to do another x-ray. If the x-ray was the same or worse, the doctor would order a CT scan of my lungs and refer me to pulmonary.

Feeling better but somehow worse

I was surprised when the x-ray was worse, because I was feeling somewhat better. Doctors kept telling me I didn’t look like my CT scan. My vitals, blood pressure, pulse oxygen levels – all normal. But the CT scan looked horrible. I had really enlarged lymph nodes and just all this scattered stuff all throughout my lungs. When I went to the pulmonologist the next day she told me she was confident I had sarcoidosis and ordered a bronchoscopy for the following Wednesday.

When I woke up from the bronchoscopy, the doctor said, “Expect bad news. It looks like you have cancer.” Biopsies were taken during the test. Coming home from the bronchoscopy, I was just thinking to myself, I don’t want my kids to grow up without me. That was the thought that just kept going.

I managed to convince myself the doctors got it wrong and it was sarcoidosis. But the next day, my biopsy results came back, and adenocarcinoma of the lung was everywhere that they biopsied. That was the worst moment in my life. It was so hard. I called my best friend, and I said: help my husband raise my kids. Because I knew that it was bad, really bad. I know enough about medicine to know that lung cancer is horrible.

Although my lung cancer was stage 4, it was all contained within my chest cavity. My pulmonologist advocated for me to get biomarker testing, and that’s when I learned about EGFR and the other biomarkers that can drive cancer. Again – I went to medical school and had no idea. I never heard anybody talk about a gene mutation driver for young female non-smokers.

My own support group

How I cope as a doctor is to learn everything I can – get out of my emotional state and just be reasonable, compartmentalize it. I learned that EGFR was the most common mutation with about 15% of patients with adenocarcinoma having it. No other driver mutations were present, and while I was waiting for the rest of my results I started talking online with a group of woman doctors with cancer. I started my own support group of friends on Facebook. My tumor came back positive for EGFR Exon 19, a best case scenario in this worst case scenario of having lung cancer.

My doctor told me I could take a pill once a day. I was absolutely floored and thrilled. I didn’t have to lose my hair. I didn’t have to lose my immune system. I wasn’t going to need chemo and I just couldn’t believe it.

I was over the moon, and that was the biggest boost. A few days later, I found out a clinical trial was available for me. I said, yes – anything that gives me a better chance of survival.  I saw a lung cancer specialist on August 24, and the next day was my 47th birthday. My mom assured me it wasn’t going to be my last. I was entering the trial September 1, and that’s the best birthday present I could have had.  

On August 30, my breathing was interfering with my sleep, and my watch showed my pulse oxygen was abnormal – like 89%. At 5 AM I walked into the ER and said, “I’m newly diagnosed with lung cancer, and I’m short of breath.” That gets you in the back pretty fast! A CT scan showed I was way worse than I had been just five days earlier, and they were talking about admitting me. But my amazing pulmonologist moved heaven and earth so I could start treatment a day ahead of schedule.

The best response

Within about a week, I was off oxygen. I could lie on my right side again. I cried when that happened – I could breathe. The tumor was shrinking. I take adult tap dance classes, and was able to do the first class of the season on September 14. I couldn’t believe I was dancing. It was amazing. In a beautiful show of support, the owner of the dance studio did a t-shirt fundraiser which raised enough for a year of classes for me and my girls, plus over $400 to donate to a cause. I chose LCRF because I know that money is going directly to research.

At my two-month follow up, my doctor said I had the best response to treatment that she’d ever seen. I could tell the difference – any lay person could have looked at the two pictures and seen it. Everything in the lymphatic spread was gone; the cancer was just destroyed.

After a month of cancer treatment, I was able to go back to planning my solo practice and fulfill that dream. A few visits later, I was told they wouldn’t even pursue an evaluation for lung cancer based on my current scans. That’s how much better my lungs were.

Regardless of what comes out of my clinical trial, it seems to be helping me. I want to contribute to research like that for the future. We need more funding for lung cancer research so more people won’t have to have chemo, won’t have to have radiation, and won’t feel like they have a death sentence. When I started this journey, I thought I was going to die within a year. Now I’m hearing about progression free survival. I know it’s not forever because at some point I’ll develop resistance. But my goal is to take the next pill available, and then the next.

I’m part of EGFR Resisters, and I’m proud of their partnership with LCRF to fund EGFR research. I was really excited to see we beat our fundraising goal and will be able to fund two researchers instead of one.

We definitely need to be raising more money for those who aren’t in the best case scenario. Not everybody responds to treatment, and not everyone has the options. I found out that I could write a donation to the Lung Cancer Foundation in my will, and I said yes – I’m going to donate because I have to fund the research for the future. When I do die – which I hope is in my 90s – I want that money to fund research, so that someone else who isn’t expecting lung cancer can benefit from treatment and live a long and full life.

Posted in People, RememberingTagged ,

Matthew Cipriani joins foundation’s Board of Directors

NEW YORK, NY (July 18, 2022) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is pleased to welcome Matthew Cipriani to its Board of Directors.

Matt Cipriani

Matthew “Matt” Cipriani is the owner of 3C/Cipriani Construction Consulting, a healthcare construction and real estate planning and management firm. Matt also serves as Director of Healthcare for Scalora Consulting Group. He combines his vast design, planning, and construction knowledge with his business and soft skills to deliver customized solutions for his clients in each healthcare setting to maximize successful outcomes. Matt earned his Bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation from Roger Williams University, and his MBA from the University of New Haven.

Matt joins LCRF to honor the legacy of his late wife, Dr. Jennifer Zannini-Cipriani, whom he lost to lung cancer in early 2021. Dr. Zannini-Cipriani was a young, active non-smoker and had dismissed her symptoms as asthma until a hospital colleague urged her to get a scan. She was diagnosed with Stage IV EGFR non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma in February 2018.  The couple began their own non-profit, Project Breathing Hope, following Jen’s diagnosis, to raise funds for research that will extend lives. By joining LCRF’s Board of Directors, Matt hopes to bring more awareness to lung cancer, reduce stigma, and fund innovative research to bring hope to other families living with lung cancer.

“I want to raise awareness and get involved in fundraising for the research projects that are out there and could be the drug that gives someone more time,” says Matt. “It feels like we are on the cutting edge of what’s next and what’s going work long-term. We just need more research and more funding. Also, I want to do something positive for our family, and to continue Jen’s search for what’s next for patients with lung cancer.”

“LCRF is delighted to have Matt on its Board,” says Reina Honts, chair, LCRF Board of Directors. “He brings passion and commitment to accelerating the pace of research in honor of his late wife, Jennifer. His dedication to pushing the envelope on innovative science is perfectly aligned with LCRF’s mission and strategic goal to triple its research investment by 2024.”

To learn more about LCRF and its Board of Directors, visit LCRF.org.

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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)

The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research.

Posted in Announcements

The 15th annual Elliot’s Legacy, a beachside family carnival featuring kite flying in memory of Elliot Chalmé A’H, took place July 10 and raised over $540,000 towards lung cancer research. Elliot passed away from lung cancer in 2006 at the age of 56, and flying kites was a beloved activity of his.

LCRF Board member Ray Chalmé, his brothers Richie and Hy, their mother Robyn and a new generation of Chalmés have raised more than $7 million since the event’s inception in 2007.

Follow the Elliot’s Legacy Instagram for photos, memories, and updates. Donations are still being accepted!

Posted in Events, Fundraise Your WayTagged ,

Committee to guide foundation’s research program

NEW YORK, NY (July 11, 2022) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is pleased to announce the appointment of a select group of its Scientific Advisory Board members to a newly-created Scientific Executive Committee. This committee is tasked with developing, assessing, and implementing a strategic research roadmap to guide LCRF’s research investment and will identify areas of unmet need. In addition, these members will advise LCRF on collaboration opportunities with multiple stakeholders in lung cancer, including but not limited to pharmaceutical and business partners whose missions align with that of LCRF.

“This committee is comprised of leaders in lung cancer research, treatment, and advocacy,” commented Katerina Politi, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board. “LCRF’s research program will benefit greatly from these experts as we develop our strategic objectives in research investment with a focus on serving lung cancer patients’ most pressing needs.”

LCRF’s Scientific Executive Committee members:

David P. Carbone, MD, PhD
Professor, Medical Oncology, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Program, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. David Carbone is Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of the James Thoracic Oncology Center at the OSUMC and holds the Barbara J. Bonner Chair in Lung Research. He graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College in 1977 and received an MD and PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University in 1985.  He then did an Internal Medicine internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital through 1988 followed by a Medical Oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. At Vanderbilt he was Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology, and Cancer Biology, and Director of the Thoracic/Head and Neck Cancer Program, Director and Principal Investigator of the Vanderbilt Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Lung Cancer for 11 years and PI of the Strategic Partnering to Evaluate Cancer Signatures (SPECS) in Lung Cancer UO1 consortium. He was recruited to The Ohio State University in 2012 to direct the James Thoracic Oncology Center.

Dr. Carbone’s research interests, grant support and publications have been focused on lung cancer, and specifically lung cancer genetics, cancer immunotherapy, and tumor-associated immunosuppression mechanisms. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications, books and review articles, has served on several NCI grant review panels, including the clinical program project parent committee, and has continuous NCI funding since early in his career. He has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the NCI and is Past President of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Dr. Carbone is a long-standing member of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Colleen Conner Ziegler
LCRF Board of Directors and lung cancer survivor

Colleen Conner Ziegler, a lung cancer survivor and active patient advocate, was diagnosed in May 2015 at the age of 58 with Stage IV ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer. She began, and is currently receiving, alectinib as her first line of treatment and recognizes that research has made her treatment possible. After a 22-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, Ms. Conner Ziegler served in a variety of community-focused endeavors, including service on several boards of directors and advisory boards. Her primary focus prior to her diagnosis was on children’s education as well as woman’s health issues. Following her lung cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus to lung cancer advocacy. She is a current member of LCRF’s Board of Directors, serves on the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program advisory committee, and has co-founded, and remains active with, several patient-focused lung cancer advocacy organizations focused on ALK-positive lung cancer research. Ms. Conner Ziegler recently joined LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Ibiayi Dagogo-Jack, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Harvard Medical School), Thoracic Oncologist, Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Ibiayi Dagogo-Jack received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Vanderbilt University (2007). She received her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (2011). Dr. Dagogo-Jack trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital through 2014. Following residency, she completed a hematology/oncology fellowship in the combined Massachusetts General Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute program in 2017, after which she joined the faculty as a medical oncologist focused on thoracic cancers. Her research is focused on understanding mechanisms underlying resistance to lung cancer targeted therapies and developing clinical trials to evaluate novel combinations in lung cancer and mesothelioma. Notably, Dr. Dagogo-Jack’s research team has led studies characterizing resistance to treatments for fusion-driven lung cancer, including strategies to overcome resistance to next- generation ALK inhibitors. Dr. Dagogo-Jack has recently become a member of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Marc Ladanyi, MD
Chief, Molecular Diagnostics Service; William J. Ruane Chair in Molecular Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Marc Ladanyi is Attending Pathologist & Chief of the Molecular Diagnostics Service and Member and Laboratory Head in the Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). As Chief of Molecular Diagnostics Service at MSKCC, he pioneered clinical testing for EGFR mutations in lung cancer starting in 2004 and now oversees large scale prospective clinical genotyping efforts based on a variety of next-generation sequencing technologies including the MSK-IMPACT and MSK-ACCESS assays, part of a center-wide precision medicine strategy. His research laboratory studies the genomics and therapeutic targets of lung adenocarcinoma, mesothelioma, and several types of sarcoma. Dr Ladanyi also played a major role in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) being on the analysis/writing teams for the TCGA Network papers on squamous lung cancer and lung adenocarcinoma and co-leading the teams that assembled the pleural mesothelioma and soft tissue sarcoma TCGA reports. Dr. Ladanyi is a long-standing member of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD
Associate Professor, Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern

Dr. Kathryn O’Donnell received her BS in Genetics from Cornell University and her PhD in Human Genetics from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2005). In 2011, Dr. O’Donnell was recruited to UT Southwestern Medical Center as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and received a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Recruitment of First-Time Tenure-Track Faculty Member Award. Her current work is focused on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to lung tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis and applying insights from these studies towards the development of new therapies for lung cancer. Several projects investigate the regulation and function of oncogenic cell surface receptors using molecular and biochemical studies, functional genetics, and mouse models. Her research is supported by awards from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Sidney Kimmel Foundation, the LUNGevity Foundation, the Welch Foundation, and CPRIT. Dr. O’Donnell recently became a member of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Board of Directors Katerina

Katerina Politi, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology and Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Politi studied Biology at the University of Pavia in Italy. She then moved to New York, where she obtained her PhD in Genetics and Development working with Argiris Efstratiadis at Columbia University. Following graduate school, she joined Harold Varmus’s lab at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and began her work on the molecular basis of lung cancer. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine (Section of Medical Oncology) at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of the Yale Cancer Center where she co-leads the Cancer Signaling Networks Research Program.

Dr. Politi’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of tumor progression and therapeutic sensitivity and resistance in lung cancer with a particular emphasis on targeted therapies and immunotherapies.  Dr. Katerina Politi is a two-time LCRF grant recipient. In 2010, she received a grant to study mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies. In 2013, her LCRF-funded project again investigated resistance to targeted therapies, this time focusing on understanding the influence of tumor cell-of-origin and heterogeneity on acquired resistance. Dr. Politi serves on LCRF’s Board of Directors and is the chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Brendon M. Stiles, MD
Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery & Surgical Oncology, Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center; Vice Chair, LCRF Board of Directors; Vice Chair, LCRF Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Brendon Stiles is Professor and Chief, Thoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology, Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery at Montefiore-Einstein.  Dr. Stiles is also the Associate Director for Surgical Services in the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center. His clinical focus is on lung cancer screening, on overcoming disparities in cancer care, and on the multidisciplinary treatment of lung and esophageal cancer patients.  Dr. Stiles is also actively involved in translational and basic laboratory research in lung cancer, with a particular focus on neoadjuvant immunotherapy and on identifying and targeting new pathways which contribute to immune suppression in lung tumors.  At the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Stiles is the Co-PI of the T32 Surgical Oncology Training Program and is the Director of the Lung Cancer Dissemination and Metastasis research team in the Integrated Imaging Program for Cancer Research. Dr. Stiles currently serves as vice chair of both LCRF’s Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board, having served as chair of the LCRF Board of Directors from 2017 – 2021.

Robert A. Winn, MD
Director & Lipman Chair in Oncology, VCU Massey Cancer Center; Senior Associate Dean for Cancer Innovation and Professor Of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, VCU School Of Medicine

As director of Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, Robert A. Winn, M.D., is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the oncology workforce, optimizing cancer health care outcomes for all and spearheading interdisciplinary approaches to cancer disparities research. Just the fourth director of Massey since its 1975 National Cancer Institute designation, Dr. Winn oversees a center comprised of more than 140 scientists and clinical investigators. Leading by example, he is nationally recognized for his community engagement efforts in promoting new approaches to building trust among populations previously disenfranchised from healthcare or excluded or abused in research.

Dr. Winn is committed to both community-engaged research and research focused on eliminating health disparities. He is principal investigator on several large multi-institutional initiatives, including a team science award from Stand Up To Cancer, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Planning SPORE focused on Lung Cancer Health Equity and an NCI-funded institutional partnership award fostering cancer disparities research and career development collaboration between Massey and Virginia State University, a Historically Black University located in Petersburg, VA – a city that has faced health and education inequities for generations. Dr. Winn also manages his own basic and translational research laboratory which has been supported by multiple NIH and Veterans Affairs Merit awards for nearly two decades. His laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms and novel therapeutic approaches for lung cancer and the confluence between societal and biological factors which may lead to disparities. Dr. Winn recently became a member of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)

The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit LCRF.org.

Posted in Announcements

LCRF Together in Chicago is first in-person educational event in two years

Dr. Jyoti D. Patel from Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center joined LCRF on June 28 in Chicago for its first LCRF Together event. Dr. Patel spoke about what’s been happening in the lung cancer space recently.

Patient advocacy

Dr. Patel sees a greater emphasis on patients in foundational science, and patient advocacy is playing a bigger role than ever.

“The focus of everything we do is make people live longer with good quality of life. We can calculate and tabulate what survival looks like, but what’s patient centered, and what’s meaningful? We rely on patient advocates to help us frame those questions,” she said.

“What has really changed is that lung cancer used to be one thing, with maybe three or four drugs to treat it. Now we have subsets we can target in different ways, and advocacy is really important for these subsets of patients.” As an example, Dr. Patel noted that NRG fusions are getting a lot of attention, and people are connecting on social media. “Imagine if you were in rural Oklahoma, where you might be the only person with that mutation. It’s important to have these groups to learn from and lean on.”

Dr. Patel said that understanding these subsets is key, because some 50% of lung cancers have a targetable mutation. “We’ve come a long way,” she said. “We are learning so much about sequencing of therapies, toxicity, and how to mitigate resistance. Things are rapidly moving. It’s exciting if your cancer has one of these mutations that we have learned much about. But most patients still don’t have targetable mutations or will have only limited benefit from targeted therapies.”

Early stage disease

“The best outcomes for patients are when you catch lung cancer early,” Dr. Patel pointed out. “Screening populations at high risk reduces mortality. While an expansion of screening eligibility means 14 million people are now eligible for screening, many people still would never meet the criteria.”

She explained that those with early stage disease, confined to the lung or lymph nodes, surgery is the best treatment. Chemotherapy is used to help make sure the cancer doesn’t come back. “Getting immunotherapy after surgery decreases the likelihood lung cancer comes back – event-free survival – and we hope that translates to overall survival.”

Neoadjuvant therapies

About 30% of patients receiving immunotherapy experience side effects, said Dr. Patel. “Many are treatable and manageable, but they impact your life. And we still don’t know what that means 10 years down the road.”

Another approach is to start treatment before surgery, which could make tumors more resectable and allow for physical therapy or presurgical optimization. If the treatment isn’t helping after 6-8 weeks, the medication is stopped and the patient proceeds to surgery. Immunotherapy with this neoadjuvant approach leads to high rates of response and tumor downstaging, but it’s difficult to determine which patients will benefit the most.

“We are trying to teach cells to know what the bad cells look like,” she explained. “But when the tumor is removed, the immune response might not be so strong because there are far fewer bad cells to react to. So this is one of our next questions: do we choose immunotherapy and chemotherapy before or after surgery?”

Brain metastasis

“Most of my patients fear brain metastasis the most, and I can say very clearly that we have multiple options now that we didn’t have 20 years ago,” she said. Before, the entire brain would receive radiation, and that came with a number of problems. “We’ve learned how to do it more safely, and outcomes are better. We have techniques to treat very small areas of the brain and pinpoint the radiation.”

The brain barrier is effective at keeping out microorganisms, and research has led to the development of drugs such as Tagrisso with small molecules that can get through the barrier much more easily. “Some exciting data was shown at ASCO. Immunotherapy can be effective in the brain. And trials are addressing conditions that used to be exclusions for clinical trials – such as HIV and hepatitis.”

The “plus one”

“Oncologists want to know Plan A, B, and C,” Dr. Patel said. “One of the pieces that can be frustrating is having to get another biopsy to find out what drug to go to next. We are looking to refine what that next drug looks like. An exciting approach now is: what’s the plus one? If an immunotherapy stops working, is there something we can add to make it more effective again? The idea is to reinvigorate and get the t-cells fighting again.”

She also advocates for paying attention to what other conditions are present. “Most people with lung cancer don’t go by the book. Sometimes people have other medical problems, sometimes not.” People with autoimmune conditions, for example, can and do participate in clinical trials. In the case of overlapping toxicities, substitute medications can be found.

Education and advocacy

Dr. Patel urged patients to come to events like LCRF Together. “The best partners are those who are advocates, ask questions, and make decisions together with their medical teams. Any time you can provide your own information to help design a study or help a trainee, it’s extraordinary.”

“We need to demand that industry and academic centers make trials accessible and patient centered. Enrolling in and talking about research is the only way to make meaningful progress. Funding is absolutely critical – so much is not funded by medical centers, and grants are essential.”

Participants attended the event from near and far.
Dr. Patel and moderator Ivy Elkins during the talk.
The event was held at The Ivy Hotel in Chicago.
Dr. Patel with Jill Feldman (left) and Ivy Elkins (right), EGFR Resisters
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