Rhonda Martin passed away on January 9, 2023 from complications caused by Stage 4 lung cancer.
By Rhonda Martin | November 2021
I was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2018. Specifically, non-small cell adenocarcinoma, Stage 4, with metastasis to my brain, spine, bone (hip), and lymph nodes.
After my diagnosis, I had whole brain radiation. Then I had one round of immunotherapy while awaiting biopsy results which confirmed EGFR positive mutation. At that point, I was switched to this little magic pill called osimertinib (Tagrisso) that I take daily. In early 2020, I needed another round of radiation; this time to my midhilar lymph node. In July 2021, I doubled my Tagrisso daily dose due to metastasis of active cancer cells in my cerebral spinal fluid – a condition called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.
My challenges, until very recently, have been very minimal. I responded well to treatment and have not altered anything in my life. I continued to “live my life” by doing all things I love: long walks, hiking, kayaking, baking, and travel.
My husband has been my greatest support from day one. He has attended every single appointment and has taken on house duties when I couldn’t. He constantly ensures my comfort, and his love and encouragement has been unwavering. He simply is my rock and I could not imagine this journey without him.
Besides my husband, my biggest assets on this lung cancer journey have been my faith, my positive attitude, my determination to live, and my incredible family and friends.
My birthday is November 11, so I started a birthday fundraiser for the Lung Cancer Research Foundation through Facebook. November is also Lung Cancer Awareness Month, so when I saw LCRF’s Lunges for Lung Cancer Challenge I decided to be part of that effort as well. I’m proud to have raised over $1,250 for research!
If you have been diagnosed with lung cancer, I know from experience how frightened you must be. Your diagnosis isn’t necessarily a death sentence as it was just 15 years ago. Medicine has significantly advanced, and people are living much longer and with fewer complications than ever. Most importantly, stay positive and live your life; don’t let cancer define you.
Loretta Erhunmwunsee, MD, thoracic surgeon with City of Hope, accepts the 2021 William C. Rippe Award for Distinguished Research from LCRF. Dr. Erhunmwunsee received a 2021 LCRF Research Grant on Disparities in Lung Cancer.
Foundation awards $1.8 million in research grants to 11 investigators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK, November 18, 2021
Today, the Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) announced the awardees of its 2021 Scientific Grant Program during its Evening of Innovation Virtual Celebration, emceed by Dave Bjork, who created and hosts the podcast The Research Evangelist.
LCRF awarded $1.8 million dollars in research grants to 11 investigators whose projects show promise to make a sustained and lasting impact on the field of lung cancer research and lung cancer outcomes. These grants are made possible, in part, by support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Genentech, Lilly Oncology, the Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation, the EGFR Resisters and donations from LCRF’s many supporters. In addition to its annual pilot grants, LCRF awarded research grants focused on overcoming disparities in lung cancer, and, in partnership with AstraZeneca, awarded grants focused on understanding resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKIs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), including therapeutic approaches to overcome these mechanisms.
“We are thrilled to give these awards to such committed researchers,” said Reina Honts, Chair of LCRF’s Board of Directors. “These grants address the areas of most need to move the science forward and improve the lives of people living with lung cancer. LCRF is committed to funding work that explores novel approaches to treatment, improves equity in lung cancer, as well as science that directly addresses acquired resistance to treatment. It is through these research grants that LCRF can have the most impact on lung cancer community. We’re excited to follow these investigators as they pursue their projects.”
“As a lung cancer researcher and former LCRF grantee, I know first-hand the importance and impact LCRF’s funding has on the careers of junior scientists,” said Katerina Politi, PhD, Chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board and Cancer Biologist and Associate Professor at Yale’s School of Medicine. “By supporting investigators so that they can pursue their innovative work, we are nurturing the immediate output of that work and of the work that comes afterwards, which collectively leads to significant breakthroughs. This is the science that is driving the technological and therapeutic advances that we hear about today.”
Through its annual Pilot Grant Program, LCRF funds innovative research focused on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. This year, LCRF will be funding four projects through this mechanism. The James B. Dougherty, MD Award for Scientific Merit is presented to the investigator whose proposal was selected for outstanding overall merit by the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. This year’s recipient is Nikhil S. Joshi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Immunology at Yale University. Dr. Joshi’s research project is titled, “Manipulating the functions of T cells in lung tumor draining lymph nodes.”
“I’m truly excited and honored to receive this James B. Dougherty, MD Award for Scientific Merit,” said Dr. Joshi. “This award will enable us to focus on two things: how to make T-cells go out of the lymph node gland and into the tumor, and then figure out how to kill the cancer cells once they get there. I am grateful for the support of the LCRF that will help us take on this challenge.”
LCRF’s other funding mechanism focuses on overcoming disparities in lung cancer, supported in part by a grant from Bristol Myers Squibb. This year, LCRF will be funding two projects in this area that will address important questions across the care continuum and ultimately help to understand and overcome the significant gaps in health equity among lung cancer patients.
LCRF’s William C. Rippe Award for Distinguished Research in Lung Cancer is presented to the investigator whose proposal not only demonstrated exceptional scientific merit but also exemplified an enduring commitment to making an impact in the field of lung cancer research. This year’s recipient is Loretta Erhunmwumsee, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery; Assistant Professor, Division of Health Equities, Department of Population Sciences at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. The title of Dr. Erhunmwunsee’s research project is “Using Social Determinants of Health to Predict Adherence of Lung Cancer Screening in Minority High-Risk Smokers.”
“I am honored to receive the William C. Rippe Award for Distinguished Research in Lung Cancer from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation. I am floored by this recognition,” said Dr. Erhunmwunsee. “I am hopeful that we truly are prioritizing the vulnerable and this award will allow us to do that. The project will allow us to really understand the impact of different social determinants on the vulnerable and minority communities and their adherence to lung cancer screening. I am so grateful for this opportunity, and excited to be part of this prestigious group.”
The LCRF-AstraZeneca partnership grant track, focused on resistance to targeted therapies and immunotherapies, awarded five grants, totaling $900,000 in funding over two years.
In addition to the presentation of the 2021 Scientific Grant Program awards, LCRF’s Evening of Innovation Virtual Celebration included remarks from LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Katerina Politi, on the impact of the research that LCRF supports, as well as several prior grantees who shared their motivation for this field of research, led off by LCRF Board of Directors Vice-Chair, Dr. Brendon Stiles. Lung cancer patients and founders of the advocacy group, EGFR Resisters, Jill Feldman and Ivy Elkins, shared their personal journeys, and we heard from Dr. Matthew Meyerson, who discussed his past and current research focused on oncogenic mutations. LCRF’s Board Chair, Reina Honts, led attendees in a moment of silence to honor loved ones lost to lung cancer before sharing the hope that research brings to survivors like her. The program closed with a special appearance by the grandson of Olympic-great Jesse Owens, Stuart Owen Rankin, with his message of hope for people with lung cancer because of the research and investigators funded by LCRF. The program was recorded and can be viewed at LCRF.org/innovation.
Congratulations to our grant recipients
The 2021 Pilot Grant Program award recipients include:
Nikhil S. Joshi, PhD 2021 James B. Dougherty, MD Award recipient Yale University Manipulating the functions of T cells in lung tumor draining lymph nodes
Yang Tian, PhD EGFR Resisters grant recipient Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Targeting lung lineage plasticity to suppress Osimertinib-induced drug-tolerant persisters
Joshua Veatch, MD, PhD Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Using CD4+ T cells to target the tumor microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer
Aria Vaishnavi, PhD University of Utah Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of radon-induced lung cancer through a novel mouse model
The 2021 Disparities in Lung Cancer Research Grant Program award recipients include:
Loretta Erhunmwunsee, MD William C. Rippe Award recipient City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center Using social determinants of health to predict adherence of lung cancer screening in minority high-risk smokers
Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, MD, PhD University College London Cancer Institute Investigating the association between air pollution and EGFR mutant never-smoker lung cancer
The 2021 LCRF-AstraZeneca Resistance Grant award recipients include:
Justin Jee, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Subclone capture sequencing to guide combination therapy and improve osimertinib response
Lingtao Jin, PhD University of Florida Targeting tumor-immune microenvironment to improve durvalumab efficacy in small cell lung cancer
Giorgia Foggetti, PhD Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele Dissecting the role of the KEAP1 pathway in mediating therapeutic sensitivity in EGFR-driven lung adenocarcinoma
Lior Golomb, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Investigating the ER Acetyl-CoA transporter as a putative metabolic dependency of mutant EGFR lung cancer
Antja-Voy Hartley, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Targeting YAP/TEAD bypass activation in Osimertinib-induced drug tolerant cells: a strategy to overcoming tumor recurrence and therapeutic resistance in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancers
For more information about LCRF and the Scientific Grant Program, visit LCRF.org/research.
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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation
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.
Contact: Sheila Sullivan Sr. Director, Marketing and Communications ssullivan@LCRF.org
$900,000 in research grants focused on EGFR, immuno-oncology and drug resistance awarded
NEW YORK, NY (November 18, 2021) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) and AstraZeneca (AZ) have announced five research grant awards focused on understanding epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor and immunotherapy resistance, totaling $900,000; giving each project $180,000 over a two-year period.
Lung cancer is currently the number one cause of cancer death both in the U.S. and globally among both men and women. An estimated 625 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. every day. As research funding grows, new treatments become available and survival rates improve. For some lung cancer patients, one promising treatment option is the rapidly evolving use of targeted therapies, which employs drugs that interfere with specific molecules involved in the growth, progression, and spread of cancer. Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common of lung cancers, whose tumors have been identified as having the EGFR mutation, frequently benefit from treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). As such, prospective identification of EGFR mutations and other specific tumor biomarkers is now the standard of care worldwide. However, acquired therapeutic resistance to these agents invariably develops. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are another class of agents that have transformed lung cancer treatment. However, primary and acquired resistance are a challenge with these therapies, too. These research studies focus on overcoming and preventing primary and acquired resistance to TKIs and developing more effective approaches to addressing disease progression in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. These studies will help advance scientific knowledge and treatment of lung cancer.
“LCRF is grateful to be partnering with AstraZeneca, who continues to be a generous supporter of our mission,” said Katerina Politi, PhD, Chair, LCRF Scientific Advisory Board. “The specific focus of this grant program is to study treatment resistance and how that resistance may be overcome or prevented, addressing this very important issue for the many patients who are undergoing treatment. We are excited to award this year’s grants and follow the progress of the projects.”
“AstraZeneca is delighted to collaborate with LCRF, and we congratulate this year’s awardees. It is our hope that findings from these studies will inform not only AstraZeneca’s goal to increase survival rates and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer but will be helpful to push the limits in this area of research. We look forward to the outcomes of these projects,” said Nataliya Trunova, Global Medical Affairs, Head of Immuno-Oncology Lung Cancer at AstraZeneca.
2021 LCRF-AstraZeneca Resistance Grant award recipients include:
Justin Jee, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Subclone Capture Sequencing to Guide Combination Therapy and Improve Osimertinib Response
Lingtao Jin, PhD University of Florida Targeting tumor-immune microenvironment to improve durvalumab efficacy in small cell lung cancer
Giorgia Foggetti, PhD Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele Dissecting the Role of the KEAP1 Pathway in Mediating Therapeutic Sensitivity in EGFR-Driven Lung Adenocarcinoma
Lior Golomb, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Investigating the ER Acetyl-CoA transporter as a putative metabolic dependency of mutant EGFR lung cancer
Antja-Voy Hartley, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Targeting YAP/TEAD bypass activation in Osimertinib-induced drug tolerant cells: a strategy to overcoming tumor recurrence and therapeutic resistance in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancers
To learn more about LCRF and its grants program, visit LCRF.org
LCRF’s 2021 Scientific Symposium took place virtually on November 10. The recording of the event is available below.
A very special thanks to our program chair and moderator, Dr. Katerina Politi, and all of our presenters: speaker Dr. Antoinette J. Wozniak, and panelists Drs. Jalal Ahmed, Chiara Ambrogio, Arnaud A. Augert, Alice Berger, and Diane Tseng.
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation was well represented at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 7. Team LCRF raised over $96,000 so far – surpassing its original goal of $75K, and inches away from the stretch goal of $100K! Here are a few photos from the big day. Below, meet the marathoners on Team LCRF!
LCRF’s Emma Nestler, Manager, Community Engagement + Outreach, and Dennis Chillemi, Executive Director
Meet the marathoners
Isabella
Isabella de la Houssaye & family | New Jersey, USA David Crane, David Crane Jr., Cason Crane & Fran McGill
Isabella is living with lung cancer and was joined at the marathon by her husband and sons.
“For me, the plea to support lung cancer research is personal and critical as I am on my 5th line of treatment with no obvious 6th line on the horizon. In nonsmoker’s lung cancer like my own, the cancer mutates quickly to become drug resistant, so while my current treatment, a phase 2 clinical trial, is working, the median time before resistance develops and the cancer spreads is 7 months. Time is running out for me and the 541,000 others challenged by this disease currently in the United States alone.”
Erin
Erin Deutsch | Virginia, USA
In memory of her grandpa, Pot Larry
“Too many families are impacted by cancer. The challenging few hours that I will spend running this marathon pales in comparison to what cancer patients go through every day – I hope by proudly and humbly (and probably slowly, let’s be honest….) running in my LCRF shirt that I can honor Pot by supporting the research needed to improve lung cancer outcomes and inspiring others to fight harder, battle stronger, and work toward kicking cancer’s butt!”
Yannick
Yannick Flaus | France and New York, USA
In memory of his mom
This was Yannick’s ninth marathon.
“This year’s race is a special one for me. It is the marathon I promised my mom I would run right before she left, to honor those like her battling lung cancer and their families.”
Daniel
Daniel Parrotta | New Jersey, USA
In memory of his grandfather, Saverio Parrotta
“Cancer holds no barriers and is a scary battle for anyone who faces it. It’s stubborn, and will not go away, and no one deserves to suffer the consequences it holds. So, I choose to take on this run not only to honor my grandfather and everyone else who had or currently is battling lung cancer, but to help raise money to further our knowledge and research toward lung cancer. Research is the only way closer to winning this war against cancer.”
Ryan
Ryan Pryor | California, USA
In honor of his mom, Judy; in memory of his grandfather, Frank “Pa Paw” Pryor; and his wife’s grandfather, Charles Smith
“Lung cancer can impact people of all ages and even healthy lifestyles, which is why I hope to raise awareness and fund lifesaving research that can develop treatments like the ones that have saved my mom’s life. Our family is forever grateful to the doctors and medical staff at the University of Colorado Hospital, who continue to care for my mom and countless others in the fight against lung cancer.”
Mikaela
Mikaela Reynolds | New Hampshire, USA
In memory of her grandmother, Beverly Mick “Gramzicle”
“I am running the NYC Marathon for the Lung Cancer Research Foundation to make an impact in memory of my brave Gramzicle! I love running and this opportunity allows me to bring awareness to and funding for lung cancer research through the generosity of my friends and family. Every training mile and every mile right through the finish line is more meaningful because of this support and the great organization we’re contributing to.”
Jacquelyn
Jacquelyn Treatman | New York, USA
In honor of all the patients with lung cancer she works with at Mount Sinai, and in memory of her mom
“I work in lung cancer research at Mount Sinai Hospital where I interact with lung cancer patients every day. It shows amazing will to face and overcome difficulty even in the darkest times, and it is truly inspiring. My mom was and continues to be my hero and source of strength and inspiration.”
Elizabeth x 2
Elizabeth Sheehan | Connecticut, USA alongside her friend, Elizabeth Kohn | New York, USA
In memory of Elizabeth Sheehan’s father, Russell Robertson
“I’m going to do my best to get through it, and I hope that future scientists will be able to find a cure so that others who suffer from this horrible disease can heal.”
Anne Forth LaPorte passed away on January 19, 2024.
October 2021
Anne LaPorte, who is living with Stage IV lung cancer, was a special guest during the 2021 Free to Breathe Walk. Anne was diagnosed in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She already had experience as a lung cancer advocate, as she lost her father to the disease in 2008.
Watch Anne’s conversation with walk emcee Nydia Han below. You can view the entire Free to Breathe Walk at this link.
Anne also told her story in a CNN feature about lung cancer. Read more here.
