Task Group Charge

To increase access to, mitigate variability in, and improve outcomes associated with diagnosis, staging, biomarker testing, treatment, and surveillance among patients with lung cancer.

Leadership

Gerard Silverstri photo

Gerard A. Silvestri, MD, MS, FCCP*

Task Group Chair
Steering Committee Member
Medical University of South Carolina

Farhood Farjah photo

Farhood Farjah, MD, MPH, FACS

Task Group Vice-Chair
Associate Professor of Surgery
University of Washington

Task Group Members

Brett Bade, MD
Yale University

Julie A. Barta, MD, ATSF
Thomas Jefferson University

Leigh Boehmer, PharmD, BCOP
Association of Community Cancer Centers

Adam Fox, MD
Medical University of South Carolina

Louise M. Henderson, PhD, MSPH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

James Jett, MD, FCCP
National Jewish Health

Bruce Johnson, MD, FASCO*
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Edward Kim, MD, MBA, FACP, FASCO
City Of Hope, Orange County

Jennifer King, PhD
GO2  Foundation for Lung Cancer

Denise Lee
Patient Advocate

Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Nikki Martin, MA
LUNGevity Foundation

Raymond Osarogiagbon, MBBS, FACP
Baptist Memorial Healthcare

Shetal Patel, MD, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Carolyn J. Presley, MD
The Ohio State University

Gregory Riely, MD, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF, FCCP
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Albert Rizzo, MD, FACP, FCCP
American Lung Association

Ian Bostock Rosenzweig, MD, MS
Medical University of South Carolina

Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH
LUNGevity Foundation

Sinchita Roy Chowdhuri, MD, PhD
MD Anderson Cancer Center

Liora Sahar, PhD, GISP
American Cancer Society

Lynette M. Sholl, MD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Brendon Stiles, MD, FACS
Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center

Robert Suh, MD
University of California, Los Angeles

Douglas Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd*
University of Washington

(*) indicates Steering Committee member

Opportunities For Intervention/Influence:

  • Address the lack of experience and/or expertise in screen-detected lung nodule management.
  • Identify strategies to reduce the variation (geographic, SES, income, race/ethnicity, rural, etc.) in access to lung cancer specialists.
  • Identify strategies to overcome the non-adherence with staging and management guidelines.
  • Highlight the disparities in receipt of curative-intent surgery for early stage NSCLC and develop strategies to eliminate these disparities.
  • Develop strategies to reduce the variability in access and use of comprehensive biomarker testing for expression of immune-markers and targeted therapy.
  • A new age of induction and adjuvant therapy for patients with resectable lung cancer (priority topic).
  • Implementation of sublobar resection (priority topic).
  • Optimizing the management and outcomes of individual with incidentally detected lung nodules.
  • Optimizing surveillance strategies for patients with lung cancer who have undergone curative-intent treatment.

Addressing Comprehensive Lung Cancer Biomarker Testing Through Project ECHO

In February 2021, the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable (ACS NLCRT) launched a 3-state pilot to increase comprehensive biomarker testing for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a hub-and-spoke knowledge sharing network led by expert teams who use videoconferencing to conduct virtual telementoring sessions with community medical teams. Three states, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi, participated in the pilot project. In September 2022, the ACS NLCRT expanded the project to include eight states: Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia. The first-phase expansion will conclude in May 2023, and plans are underway to include the remaining thirty-nine states and Puerto Rico by 2025. Updates will be posted here as the project progresses.

The primary goal of this ECHO clinic was to increase provider knowledge and confidence to address common barriers to implementing comprehensive biomarker testing for NSCLC within their respective cancer teams and institutions. A secondary project aim was to foster collaboration among participants to continue to overcome barriers to biomarker testing within each state or region, reflective of their unique cultural, geographic, and payer landscape. More detailed information is available in the Three-State Pilot Executive Summary below.

Learn more about the ACS NLCRT’s 3-state pilot and 8-state expansion here.

Optimizing Lung Cancer Biomarkers in Practice: A National Initiative

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