Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, MS, FACR, FACC, FSABI
Chair, National Lung Cancer Roundtable
Professor, Department of Radiology
University of Michigan

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). She received her medical degree and completed her diagnostic radiology residency at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1992. She has served many roles in organized radiology, including president of the American Roentgen Ray Society, the Society of Thoracic Radiology, the Association of University Radiologist and the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research in Radiology, a member of the American College of Radiology’s Board of Chancellors and Executive Committee and Trustee of the American Board of Radiology. She is the inaugural chair of the American Cancer Society’s Lung Cancer Roundtable, dedicated to creating lung cancer survivors through early detection and screening, improvements and access to modern diagnostics and treatments.

She is a frequently invited guest speaker at academic institutions and national/international meetings with expertise in lung cancer screening, and both interstitial and obstructive lung diseases is sought after by professional organizations developing multispecialty guidelines in radiology, pulmonary medicine and cardiovascular diseases with organizations such as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the National Quality Foundation. She currently is the Executive Sponsor of lung cancer screening activities of the ACR, where she also chairs the lung cancer screening registry and the LungRADS committee and serves as the vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline on Lung Cancer Screening.

Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO
Chief Patient Officer
American Cancer Society

Dr. Arif Kamal serves as chief patient officer at the American Cancer Society. In this newly created role, Dr. Kamal drives coordinated efforts to accelerate progress against cancer through the organization’s patient-, caregiver-, and healthcare professional-facing activities.

He leads the American Cancer Society’s patient support objectives and the development of strategic plans to measurably improve the lives of people with cancer and their families. Dr. Kamal oversees the organization’s cancer support, patient navigation, educational programs, patient lodging solutions, transportation services, contact center, and digital patient support offerings, as well as all aspects of organizational functions that touch cancer patients across 5,000 communities around the globe.

Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Dr. Kamal served for more than 12 years as an oncologist, researcher, and innovative leader at Duke University and the Duke Cancer Institute. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the Duke University School of Medicine, and recently served as physician quality and outcomes officer at the Duke Cancer Institute. He holds nationally recognized expertise in oncology quality assessment and palliative care.

In addition to clinical and academic pursuits at Duke Cancer Institute, Dr. Kamal co-founded Prepped Health, a company that develops innovative technology solutions to educate and engage patients facing a serious illness like cancer and their caregivers. He also holds several leadership positions within prestigious national professional organizations, has won numerous awards, and is a prolific author.

Dr. Kamal received his medical degree from the six-year combined BA/MD program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with residencies and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic and Duke University. He holds a master’s degree in health science in clinical research from Duke University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.

Dr. Kamal lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and two young children.

Natalie Brown
Patient Advocate
LUNGevity Foundation

Natalie Brown is in software sales and enjoys providing happiness to her clients. She was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer during the pandemic, which made things a lot more challenging. She is focused on raising awareness and educating others about lung cancer. Natalie enjoys working out, playing with her puppy, spending time with her family and friends and traveling.

Nikki Hayes, MPH
Chief, Comprehensive Cancer Control Branch
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Nikki Hayes joined CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) in 2002. Before joining CDC, she was a Biologist at the NIH National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and managed its DNA Sequencing Core Facility for more than 10 years. Nikki is currently the Chief of the DCPC Comprehensive Cancer Control Branch and manages the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, one of the agency’s flagship cancer prevention and control programs. She also manages other programs that aim to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors, particularly young breast cancer survivors and metastatic breast cancer patients, and reduce commercial tobacco use to prevent cancer in populations experiencing health disparities. Nikki has published a number of peer-reviewed manuscripts and presented to national audiences on topics that include disparities in cancer-health outcomes; increasing cancer screening; cancer control planning and implementation; and COVID-19 in disparate populations.

Timothy W. Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS
Professor, Department of Surgery
Medical Director, Markey Cancer Center
University of Kentucky

Timothy W. Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS, is a professor of surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Kentucky (UK). He received his medical degree and surgical training at the University of Florida, and has served on faculty at UK for the past 25 years. Although he has experience in cardiac surgery and transplantation, Dr. Mullett’s clinical practice and research focuses on the overwhelming burden of lung cancer in Kentucky. He is a member of the UK Markey Cancer Center – Kentucky’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center – and is chair of UK’s cancer committee. This Commission on Cancer program achieved an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017. He served as CoC state chair for six years and was awarded Outstanding State Chair in 2019. In October of 2020, Dr. Mullett was installed as Chair of the Commission on Cancer.

Currently, Dr. Mullett is the medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network, a program that provides high-quality cancer care closer to home at collaborating centers through specialty services, education and outreach programs. He also serves as medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Research Network, a collaborative network of sites that conducts a portfolio of high priority trials including therapeutic oncology trials and interventional and non-interventional studies appropriate for community centers.

Dr. Mullett’s research interests include studying quality implementation of lung cancer screening. He is principal investigator of the Kentucky LEADS Collaborative, a portfolio of studies to reduce the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky. For three years, he has been the clinical champion for the L.A.U.N.C.H. Collaborative, working with the NCI, the Federal Communications Commission, Amgen, and other stakeholders to study barriers to cancer care and the impact of limited broadband access.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Mullett is a retired colonel with 27 years in the US Army Reserves Medical Corps, with tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and with Homeland Security in response to terrorist threats. He is also an eight-year cancer survivor, having been treated successfully with targeted therapy for a metastatic sarcoma.

Elizabeth Scharnetzki, PhD
Staff Scientist
Maine Health Institute for Research

Liz Scharnetzki, PhD, is a Staff Scientist at the Center for Interdisciplinary Population and Health Research at MaineHealth Institute for Research (MHIR). Dr. Scharnetzki completed her PhD in Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Vermont. Her research interests lie in understanding how psychosocial processes, like stigma and identity threat, impact the delivery and receipt of health care. Before joining MHIR, Dr. Scharnetzki worked at Vermont’s Agency of Human Services, developing policy research projects aimed at promoting social capital within Vermont’s criminal justice system. Dr. Scharnetzki’s other prior positions include serving as a lecturer at universities and colleges in both California and Vermont, and working as a Research Technician at one of the NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative sites. Dr. Scharnetzki also currently co-leads MaineHealth Institute for Research’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup.

Pierre E. de Delva, MD, FACS
Chairman, Interdisciplinary Thoracic Cancer Care Team
University of Mississippi Medical Center

Dr. Pierre de Delva is the division chief of general thoracic surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Cancer Institute in Jackson. His research interests include health disparities and quality improvements in surgery, among other areas. Dr. de Delva has built an interdisciplinary thoracic cancer care team, solidified his institution’s lung screening program and increased smoking cessation programs throughout the state. He also spearheaded several projects focused on building a learning community for thoracic cancer care teams, addressing barriers to biomarker testing and other efforts to make a positive impact in the lung cancer space.

Terrance T. Healey, MD, FACR
Director, Thoracic Radiology
Rhode Island Hospital

Moon S. Chen, Jr., PhD, MPH
Professor, Hematology and Oncology
UC Davis Health

J. Robert Headrick, MD, MBA, FACS
Thoracic Cancer Medical Director
CHI Memorial Medical Group

Dr. Rob Headrick is an author, speaker, inventor and Thoracic Surgeon specializing in Lung cancer. He is the current Chief of Thoracic Surgery at CHI Memorial in Chattanooga. He also serves as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Dr Headrick began his education at Vanderbilt University where he obtained a degree in Biomedical Engineering. His medical education and General Surgery residency were completed within the University of Tennessee system prior to traveling to the Mayo Clinic for a fellowship in Thoracic Surgery. He was awarded the Health Policy and Leadership scholarship at Brandeis University by the STS/ACS and completed an MBA at the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee. He has been recognized for his contributions to modernizing the operating room, developing innovative products to reduce pulmonary air leaks and led the way in developing a mobile CT platform for lung cancer screening. The Southern Thoracic Surgical association awarded him with the Physician Inspiration Award and the STS has recognized his advocacy efforts in Washington for lung cancer research and support.

Jessica Olson, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Division of Community Health
Medical College of Wisconsin

Jessica Olson, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Institute for Health & Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research is dedicated toward leveraging and integrating the strengths of basic, clinical, and community research to reduce disparities in breast and lung cancer incidence and mortality. Currently, she is a faculty member on the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment’s Cross Cutting Initiative, an eight-year investment focused on reducing breast and lung cancer disparities in Wisconsin. Dr. Olson serves as Chair of the State-Based Initiatives Task Group for the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable. Independently, she is collaborating on projects to identify circulating biomarkers that indicate cancer incidence, tumor progression, or subsequent cancer treatment induced cardiotoxicity.

Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, MS, FACR, FACC, FSABI
Chair, National Lung Cancer Roundtable
Professor, Department of Radiology
University of Michigan

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). She received her medical degree and completed her diagnostic radiology residency at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1992. She has served many roles in organized radiology, including president of the American Roentgen Ray Society, the Society of Thoracic Radiology, the Association of University Radiologist and the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research in Radiology, a member of the American College of Radiology’s Board of Chancellors and Executive Committee and Trustee of the American Board of Radiology. She is the inaugural chair of the American Cancer Society’s Lung Cancer Roundtable, dedicated to creating lung cancer survivors through early detection and screening, improvements and access to modern diagnostics and treatments.

She is a frequently invited guest speaker at academic institutions and national/international meetings with expertise in lung cancer screening, and both interstitial and obstructive lung diseases is sought after by professional organizations developing multispecialty guidelines in radiology, pulmonary medicine and cardiovascular diseases with organizations such as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the National Quality Foundation. She currently is the Executive Sponsor of lung cancer screening activities of the ACR, where she also chairs the lung cancer screening registry and the LungRADS committee and serves as the vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline on Lung Cancer Screening.

Carey C. Thomson, MD, MPH, FCCP
Chair, Department of Medicine
Mount Auburn Hospital/Beth Israel Lahey Health
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Carey Thomson, MD, MPH is the Chair, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Lahey Health/Mount Auburn Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has implemented a number of clinical programs for lung cancer screening, lung nodule safety nets, and directs the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening and Nodule Care Program. She has brought this work to regional work as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Lung Cancer Learning Collaborative and serving on her network Steering Committee for Thoracic Oncology. Nationally, she was Co-Chair of the ATS/ALA Implementation Guide for Lung Cancer Screening and serves on the American College of Radiology 2.0 Lung Cancer Steering Committee, and currently as Chair of the Lung Cancer Early Detection Task Group. She has supported the National Lung Cancer Roundtable through leadership in creation of LungPLAN, a Resource tool for lung cancer screening and nodule management programs. She is an implementation scientist with extensive work in health services related to lung cancer and pulmonary disease, including an American Cancer Society funded project that aims to coordinate mammogram and lung cancer screening. Dr. Thomson graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, completed her residency training at Stanford University, and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine through the Harvard Combined Fellowship program. Concurrently, she received advanced training in epidemiology through the Channing Laboratory obtaining her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Jan Eberth, PhD, FACE
Professor and Chair, Health Management and Policy
Drexel University

Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, MS, FACR, FACC, FSABI
Chair, National Lung Cancer Roundtable
Professor, Department of Radiology
University of Michigan

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). She received her medical degree and completed her diagnostic radiology residency at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1992. She has served many roles in organized radiology, including president of the American Roentgen Ray Society, the Society of Thoracic Radiology, the Association of University Radiologist and the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research in Radiology, a member of the American College of Radiology’s Board of Chancellors and Executive Committee and Trustee of the American Board of Radiology. She is the inaugural chair of the American Cancer Society’s Lung Cancer Roundtable, dedicated to creating lung cancer survivors through early detection and screening, improvements and access to modern diagnostics and treatments.

She is a frequently invited guest speaker at academic institutions and national/international meetings with expertise in lung cancer screening, and both interstitial and obstructive lung diseases is sought after by professional organizations developing multispecialty guidelines in radiology, pulmonary medicine and cardiovascular diseases with organizations such as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the National Quality Foundation. She currently is the Executive Sponsor of lung cancer screening activities of the ACR, where she also chairs the lung cancer screening registry and the LungRADS committee and serves as the vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline on Lung Cancer Screening.

John P. Williams, MD, FACS
Chair, President’s Cancer Panel
Founder, Novant UVA Breast Center

Dr. Williams is a breast cancer surgeon and patient education advocate. He has served two administrations as chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, which issued its report, “Closing Gaps in Cancer Screening” to the President of the United States in February 2022. His policy interests focus on improving cancer outcomes and disparities by promoting a transparent and patient-focused healthcare system. He also co-chairs the new created National Breast Cancer Roundtable with the American Cancer Society. He founded and is medical director of the Breast Cancer School for Patients, an online video-based cancer education platform.

He received an undergraduate degree in psychology with distinction from Duke University and his medical degree from UNC School of Medicine. Dr. Williams then completed his surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine with Dr. Michael E. DeBakey. He is a clinical faculty member at the Institute for Biohealth Innovation at George Mason University and founded the UVA Community Health Breast Center in 2009. Dr. Williams practices breast cancer surgery in Northern Virginia.

Robert A. Smith, PhD, FSBI
Principal Investigator, National Lung Cancer Roundtable
Senior Vice President, Cancer Screening
American Cancer Society

Dr. Robert A. Smith is a cancer epidemiologist and Senior Vice President, Cancer Screening at the National Office of the American Cancer Society (ACS) in Atlanta, Georgia. He also is Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University School of Medicine, and an Honorary Professor, Centre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London. His primary research interests are cancer epidemiology, evaluation of cancer prevention and early detection programs, quality assurance in the delivery of health services, and cancer rehabilitation and survivorship. He received his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1983. Prior to joining the staff at the ACS, he held positions with the Boston University School of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control. At the ACS he leads the development of cancer screening guidelines, and special research and policy projects focused on cancer prevention and control. He is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles, reports, and book chapters, and a frequent lecturer on cancer screening issues. He serves on many international and national government and professional advisory committees and working groups, and in 2017 was a member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Handbooks Working Group for volume 17 on Colorectal Cancer Screening. 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 National Lung Cancer Roundtable and the Principle Investigator of the first 3-year supporting grant. Among his honors, Dr. Smith is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging; in 2004 he received the Cancer Prevention Laurel for Outstanding National Leadership from the Prevent Cancer Foundation; and in 2011 he received the Medal of Honor from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Anita Y. Kinney, PhD, RN, FAAN, FABMR
Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Dr. Anita Kinney has been in cancer prevention and control for over 25 years with a focus on behavioral, ethical, social, and care delivery genetics research. Her research combines behavioral science, clinical, and epidemiologic perspectives to address unsolved cancer prevention and control problems in diverse populations and settings. Dr. Kinney’s research goal is to understand variation in cancer risk; determinants of risk and outcomes; and to use this information to develop effective interventions that facilitate informed decision-making, positive changes in health behaviors, and guideline-concordant genomic care delivery that leads to better outcomes. Much of her research has focused on documenting determinants of interest, access, and use of genomic tests and related health services in diverse populations and using this information to better understand and address health disparities. She has pioneered effective culturally targeted and telehealth genetic risk communications, behavior change and gene testing interventions in cancer survivors and their relatives. In addition, Dr. Kinney has developed and tested effective health promotion interventions in cancer survivors incorporating genomic and other biomarkers to better understand biobehavioral mechanisms underlying intervention effects. Dr. Kinney has considerable experience leading and collaborating on clinic-, community-and population-based randomized trials that have developed and implemented effective interventions to promote cancer risk assessment and screening in average-risk and high-risk populations and appropriate translation of genetic discoveries into clinical practice and improve cancer survivorship outcomes. Further, she has pioneered effective culturally targeted interventions in Black and other underserved cancer patients and their relatives. As a PI or co-investigator on numerous transdisciplinary studies, Dr. Kinney has led efforts that involved clinic-based and population-based recruitment, internet-based and other types of interventions, biospecimen acquisition and analysis, multisite NCORP cancer care delivery research studies involving recruitment of minorities and other underserved populations, that successfully achieved accrual and retention goals in diverse populations. To date, she has published over 140 peer-reviewed publications, and provided mentoring and training to over 50 students, postdocs and junior faculty.

Jan Eberth, PhD, FACE
Professor and Chair, Health Management and Policy
Drexel University

Michael R. Gieske, MD
Director, Lung Cancer Screening
St. Elizabeth Healthcare

Ruth C. Carlos, MD, MS, FACR
Professor, Department of Radiology
University of Michigan

Carey C. Thomson, MD, MPH, FCCP
Chair, Department of Medicine
Mount Auburn Hospital/Beth Israel Lahey Health
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Carey Thomson, MD, MPH is the Chair, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Lahey Health/Mount Auburn Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has implemented a number of clinical programs for lung cancer screening, lung nodule safety nets, and directs the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening and Nodule Care Program. She has brought this work to regional work as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Lung Cancer Learning Collaborative and serving on her network Steering Committee for Thoracic Oncology. Nationally, she was Co-Chair of the ATS/ALA Implementation Guide for Lung Cancer Screening and serves on the American College of Radiology 2.0 Lung Cancer Steering Committee, and currently as Chair of the Lung Cancer Early Detection Task Group. She has supported the National Lung Cancer Roundtable through leadership in creation of LungPLAN, a Resource tool for lung cancer screening and nodule management programs. She is an implementation scientist with extensive work in health services related to lung cancer and pulmonary disease, including an American Cancer Society funded project that aims to coordinate mammogram and lung cancer screening. Dr. Thomson graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, completed her residency training at Stanford University, and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine through the Harvard Combined Fellowship program. Concurrently, she received advanced training in epidemiology through the Channing Laboratory obtaining her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health.

William R. Mayfield, MD, FACS, FCCP
Chief Surgical Officer
WellStar Health System

Renda S. Wiener, MD, MPH, ATSF
Professor, Department of Medicine
Boston University Medical Center
Associate Director, Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research
VA Boston Healthcare System

Jamie L. Studts, PhD
Professor, Department of Medical Oncology
Scientific Director, Behavioral Oncology
University of Colorado

Dr. Jamie L. Studts is a Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Scientific Director of Behavioral Oncology. Dr. Studts also serves as the Co-Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control program and Co-Director of the Population Health Shared Resource at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Prior to joining the University of Colorado, Dr. Studts served as Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Assistant Director for Cancer Prevention and Control, and Director of the Behavioral and Community-Based Research Shared Resource Facility at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center.

Dr. Studts is a licensed clinical health psychologist, and his interests address behavioral aspects of tobacco-related malignancies. His research develops and tests interventions to promote informed/shared decision making and behavior change among patients and clinicians regarding prevention, screening, and survivorship of lung and head/neck cancer. His research has been funded by NCI, NIDCR, NIDA, NIEHS, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, and the Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Program.

Dr. Studts is the Principal Investigator of the Kentucky LEADS Collaborative, and he previously served on the Institute of Medicine National Cancer Policy Forum addressing Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening. He is a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, a member of the Scientific Leadership Board for the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and he recently joined the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Lung Cancer Screening and Smoking Cessation Guideline Panels. Dr. Studts serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable and Chairs the Survivorship, Stigma, and Nihilism Task Group as well as its Campaign to End Lung Cancer Stigma. Recently, Dr. Studts joined the Steering Committee for the Lung Ambition Alliance. In 2019 he received the Centerstone Healthcare Advocacy award in recognition of his efforts to reduce the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky.

Jamie S. Ostroff, PhD
Chief, Behavioral Sciences Service
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Robert J. Volk, PhD
Professor, Department of Health Services Research
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Robert Volk is a professor and deputy department chair in the Department of Health Services Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. A decision scientist, he heads the Decision Support Lab and the Shared Decision Making Core of MD Anderson’s NCI-funded Cancer Center Support Grant. His research focuses on shared decision making, a process wherein patients and their health care providers jointly make difficult clinical decisions when the optimal strategy is uncertain. His lab produces, tests, and disseminates decision support tools for decision making across the cancer care continuum. He was named the 2012 Outstanding Patient Educator, received a President’s Recognition for Faculty Excellence award in 2016, a President’s Recognition for Faculty Excellence in Education and Mentorship Advancement award in 2017, a President’s Recognition of Faculty Excellence in Prevention Outreach Award in 2019, and was recipient the 2020 Robert M. Chamberlain Distinguished Mentor Award. His patient decision aids have received two Telly Awards and Platinum and two Gold Hermes Creative Awards for best film and video production in the area of health care. Dr. Volk is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration, and co-leads an update of the evidence and standards used in development of patient decision aids. He was also a panel member for National Quality Forum’s patient decision aid certification project, which led to publication of their new standards in 2017. His team has produced a number of decision aids, including the Lung Cancer Screening Tools for Patients and Clinicians for AHRQ, and the colorectal cancer screening shared decision making tools for the American Cancer Society. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Shared Decision Making Task Group of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable (NLCRT) supported by the American Cancer Society. His research in patient decision support has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and other non-federal sources.

Kim L. Sandler, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Sandler is a Cardiothoracic radiologist and Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Lung Screening Program and is working to save lives by increasing the number of patients enrolled in lung screening which allows for the detection of early stage lung cancer. Her research interests include outreach for lung screening, particularly for women and underrepresented minorities, and improving our ability to differentiate benign and malignant lung nodules with CT imaging. She is also involved in research initiatives to reduce the false positive rate of lung screening examinations by combining low dose CT imaging with blood-based biomarkers, machine learning, and patient histories.

Carey C. Thomson, MD, MPH, FCCP
Chair, Department of Medicine
Mount Auburn Hospital/Beth Israel Lahey Health
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Carey Thomson, MD, MPH is the Chair, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Lahey Health/Mount Auburn Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has implemented a number of clinical programs for lung cancer screening, lung nodule safety nets, and directs the Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Screening and Nodule Care Program. She has brought this work to regional work as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Lung Cancer Learning Collaborative and serving on her network Steering Committee for Thoracic Oncology. Nationally, she was Co-Chair of the ATS/ALA Implementation Guide for Lung Cancer Screening and serves on the American College of Radiology 2.0 Lung Cancer Steering Committee, and currently as Chair of the Lung Cancer Early Detection Task Group. She has supported the National Lung Cancer Roundtable through leadership in creation of LungPLAN, a Resource tool for lung cancer screening and nodule management programs. She is an implementation scientist with extensive work in health services related to lung cancer and pulmonary disease, including an American Cancer Society funded project that aims to coordinate mammogram and lung cancer screening. Dr. Thomson graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, completed her residency training at Stanford University, and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine through the Harvard Combined Fellowship program. Concurrently, she received advanced training in epidemiology through the Channing Laboratory obtaining her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Liora Sahar, PhD, GISP
Senior Director, Data Science
American Cancer Society

Liora Sahar, is a Geodetic engineering and GIS Professional (GISP) with research, industry, government consulting, non-profit and military experience in data analytics, geospatial sciences, remote sensing and algorithm and software development. She currently serves as an independent geospatial consultant to non profit organizations as well as a GIS Program Lead (PT) within the Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP) team at CDC/ATSDR (contractor). She also maintains an adjunct faculty position, teaching at GA-Tech. In her last role she served as the Scientific Director for Geospatial Research, and led a team of professionals with background and experience in GIS, city planning, environmental sciences and geography that also supported daily activities of ACS programs, units, and regions.

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF, FCCP
Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Wilmot Cancer Institute, University of Rochester

My commitment to improving the care of lung cancer patients has led me to dedicate a great deal of my time to promoting state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary care. My research interests have focused on the early detection of lung cancer, toxicities caused by therapies in lung cancer, and the prevalence of lung cancer in women. I am currently an active participant in the CHEST (American College of Chest Physicians) Lung Cancer Guidelines Initiative and served as an integral part of the guideline’s development and implementation. My expertise in the continuum of lung cancer care catapulted my interest in developing a multidisciplinary lung cancer screening (LCS) program at UNC. I am recognized as one of several pulmonologists with LCS program development and implementation expertise. I have been part of the UNC LCS initiative as a Co-Investigator, developing a lung screening registry, and as a Co-Investigator in the quality improvement of lung cancer screening implementation.

As Co-Director of the North Carolina Lung Cancer Screening Registry and through two NIH/NCI-funded grants, my research focuses on lung cancer screening implementation and the impact of co-morbidities on lung cancer screening outcomes. More recently, my collaboration with colleagues and work on disparities in eligibility and access to lung cancer screening has led me to explore genetic risk scores in lung cancer screening assessment, particularly in underserved populations.

Throughout my career, I have appreciated the importance of building and expanding research collaborations and sharing scientific knowledge to move the science of risk assessment and early detection of lung cancer.

In April 2022, I transitioned to the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) as Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division and Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute. I participate in the multidisciplinary lung cancer screening program at URMC, currently run by the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine division. At URMC, I joined a team of researchers dedicated to developing further lung cancer screening research. Moreover, to truly make a difference in mitigating lung cancer disparities, collaborative work with colleagues at the Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester and research colleagues at UNC and other institutions is paramount.

Farhood Farjah, MD, MPH, FACS
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
University of Washington

Dr. Farhood Farjah is an Associate Professor of Surgery and an Endowed Chair in Lung Cancer Research at the University of Washington (UW). He is a member of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic and Esophageal and Gastric Oncology Teams at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. In his role as Associate Medical Director for the UW Surgical Outcomes Research Center, Dr. Farjah helps train the next generation of surgeon-scientists. He is currently the Principal Investigator of a National Cancer Institute funded study evaluating the relationship between the intensity of diagnostic evaluation and outcomes among individuals with incidentally detected lung nodules. In addition to his work with the National Lung Cancer Roundtable, he serves in various roles for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, American College of Chest Physicians, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Dr. Farjah also serves on the Editorial Board for CHEST, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Peter J. Mazzone, MD, MPH, FCCP
Pulmonologist and Director, Lung Cancer Program, Respiratory Institute
Cleveland Clinic

A. Christine Argento, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University

Deborah P. Brown, MS
Chief Mission Officer
American Lung Association

Deborah P. Brown is the Chief Mission Officer for the American Lung Association. Prior to this, she served as President and CEO of the Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic until the Lung Association united into a single nationwide organization on July 1, 2017, when she became the Executive Vice President for the region.

She holds a BS degree in Public Health from West Chester University and an MS degree in Health Education from St. Joseph’s University. She has been a Certified Health Education Specialist since 1983.

Brown began her career as a health educator responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of adult and pediatric lung disease programs. She was later promoted to the position as program director, vice president of advocacy, mission and communication before being appointed president and CEO.

Her past experiences have included working on advocacy issues in the areas of tobacco, asthma, school health and healthcare. Passage of Delaware’s Clean Indoor Air Act in 2002, the second comprehensive law in the country, is among her major accomplishments. Since then she has been involved in passage of the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air law, anti-idling legislation, and numerous environmental campaigns at both the state and federal levels. She has served as the chairperson for coalitions and partnerships throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Brown has written curriculum and lesson plans for various health education programs and has developed and implemented training programs for school personnel throughout Mid-Atlantic Region.

Mary Barton, MD, MPP
Vice President, Performance Management
National Committee for Quality Assurance

Dr. Mary Barton, MD oversees the development, use and maintenance of techniques NCQA uses to evaluate health care quality. She ensures the scientific integrity of NCQA measurement and research. She also leads NCQA in winning and executing health care quality measurement contracts for federal and state governments.

Prior to NCQA, Barton worked for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), where she was the scientific director of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). She supported and provided oversight for the methodological, evidence review and recommendation-making work of the USPSTF. Before joining AHRQ, Barton was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, where she performed clinical epidemiology and health services research related to cancer screening and prevention in terms of access, test performance and outcomes.

Ronald E. Myers, DSW, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Thomas Jefferson University

Debra S. Dyer, MD, FACR
Chair, Department of Radiology
National Jewish Health

Christine D. Berg, MD
Early Detection Consultant, LLC

Christine D. Berg, M.D. is a consultant whose efforts focus on cancer risk-based assessment and how to integrate molecular and imaging screening tools and then move these efforts into the clinical arena. She retired from the National Cancer Institute after a distinguished career. One position was as the Chief, of the Early Detection Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute. She was Project Officer for the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), the PLCO Biospecimen Repository and the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The work on the NLST led to USPSTF and CMS recommendations for lung cancer screening which have led to earlier lung cancer detection in the US with improved survival.

Her advocacy activities focus on encouraging adaptation and mitigation of the public health effects of the climate crisis. As an oncologist she is very concerned about the long-term health effects of the climate crisis and specifically its effects on cancer patients. A group she has helped to found, Oncologists United for Climate and Health is raising awareness and action in the oncology community. She serves on the Board of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility www.peer.org Recently, she formed an air pollution interest group within the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer to work to lower the toll from particulate matter and greenhouse gas emissions for our patients. She is a member of the Climate Victory Council of the League of Conservation Voters. She volunteers with Elders Climate Action and the Sierra Club. She joined the Cosmos Club in 2018 in Washington DC where she participates actively in the Chess Group, the Climate Change Group, and the Natural Resources Group.

Nichole T. Tanner, MD, MSCR, FCCP
Director, Lung Cancer Screening
Ralph H. Johnson VA Healthcare System
Professor, Department of Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina

Lisa M. Lowenstein, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Services Research
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

I am a health services researcher with a focus on implementation science. My work applies both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions into clinical practice. To refine my skills and knowledge, I have completed the Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) and the Mentored Training for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (MT-DIRC). I have been involved in research focusing on different implementation strategies (provider communication, clinical workflow assessment, provider and patient education needs). The qualitative studies have utilized intercept interviews, field notes, observations, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. For observations, I have conducted clinical workflow mapping to document the clinical workflow in primary pediatric practices, medical oncology practices, and surgical oncology practices. I am the lead implementation scientist for several projects in the areas such as improving care for older patients with cancer, shared decision making, and lung cancer screening. One project with the NCI Community Oncology Research Program tests the effectiveness of adding practice facilitation to increase the uptake of a frailty assessment and targeted recommendations prior to surgery for older patients with cancer. I am the Principal Investigator for a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded project to implement the geriatric assessment for older patients receiving chemotherapy in community cancer centers. I am involved in several projects examining the impact of different care delivery models for the counseling and shared decision-making visit for lung cancer screening. I am a co-principal investigator on a PCORI-funded study to implement the identification and directing high-risk smokers to a web-based decision support intervention in eight states. In a CPRIT funded effectiveness- implementation, cluster randomized trial, I lead the implementation science aim testing the effectiveness and implementation potential of using quitlines to deliver decision coaching for lung cancer screening. I developed the decision coaching intervention which was piloted in our lung cancer screening program. I am happy to serve as a co-investigator on this application.

Linda Bailey, JD, MHS
President and CEO
North American Quitline Consortium

Laura Makaroff, DO
Senior Vice President, Prevention and Early Detection
American Cancer Society

Dr. Laura Makaroff is a family physician and Senior Vice President of Prevention and Early Detection at the American Cancer Society. She oversees a broad portfolio of cancer prevention and early detection initiatives including health equity, cancer screening, HPV vaccination, tobacco control, comprehensive cancer control, and other national partnerships. Prior to joining ACS, Dr. Makaroff served as a Senior Clinical Advisor for the Bureau of Primary Health Care at the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). Dr. Makaroff completed a fellowship in health policy at Georgetown University and The Robert Graham Center in Washington, DC. She completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital and was previously in solo, private practice outside of Denver, CO.

Gerard A. Silvestri, MD, MS, Master FCCP
George C. and Margaret M. Hillenbrand Endowed Chair, Thoracic Oncology
Medical University of South Carolina

Gerard A. Silvestri, MD, MS is a lung cancer pulmonologist with a career dedicated to the evaluation, management and improvement of outcomes of patients with this most common of malignancies. He has a graduate degree in the evaluative clinical sciences, and apply these health services research techniques to many aspects of his research. He began the first multidisciplinary lung cancer clinic in South Carolina, and evaluates approximately 5 new lung cancers per week. His research is patient oriented clinical research directed towards nearly every aspect of lung cancer care, including lung cancer screening, lung cancer staging, the evaluation and management of pulmonary nodules and disparities in cancer care. He served as a section editor and author of the American College of Chest Physicians evidence based guidelines on screening and the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Dr. Silvestri participates as a Steering Committee member and Task Group Chair on the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Screening Roundtable Steering Committee. To date, he has over 270 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and invited commentaries.

James Pantelas
Patient Advocate
Veterans Health Administration
Patient Perspective

Joelle T. Fathi, DNP, RN, ARNP, CTTS, FAAN
Chief Healthcare Delivery Officer
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer
Tobacco Treatment

Dr. Fathi serves as the Chief Healthcare Delivery Officer for GO2 for Lung Cancer. She is a practicing board-certified nurse practitioner with 30 years of experience in direct clinical care, including the lung screening and cancer care continuum. She is nationally certified as a tobacco treatment specialist and serves diligently to control tobacco and help people quit smoking. She is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing. Dr. Fathi is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing for her distinguished contributions to improving health and achieving health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.

Julie A. Barta, MD, ATSF
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Pulmonary Medicine

Robert D. Suh, MD
Radiologist, Westwood Imaging Center and Interventional Radiology Clinic
UCLA Health
Radiology

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
Stanford University School of Medicine
Thoracic Surgery

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS, trained in general surgery at the University of Southern California and cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California Los Angeles. She practices at Stanford Hospital and is Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the VA Palo Alto. Her surgical practice consists of general thoracic surgery with special emphasis on thoracic oncology and minimally invasive surgical techniques. She heads up the Thoracic Surgical Health Services Research group in the Division of Thoracic Surgery, and has grant funding through the Veterans Affairs Administration with a VA Merit Award and is Co-PI on an RO1 translational study examining diaphragm dysfunction among esophagectomy patients. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH Study Section on Image Guided Interventions and Surgery (IGIS). Her current research interests are in cancer surveillance and survivorship care in evaluating needs, quality of life, adherence to national standards of care. She is a member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable of the American Cancer Society serving as Chair of the Task Group on Lung Cancer in Women. She also has served as a professional member of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Advisory Panel on Improving Healthcare Systems. She is a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. As an educator, Dr. Backhus is the Associate Program Director for the Stanford Thoracic Track Residency and serves as the Chair of the ACGME Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery which is the accrediting body for all cardiothoracic surgery training programs in the US.

Ignacio I. Wistuba, MD
Professor, Division Head ad interim, Division of Pathology/Lab Medicine
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Pathology

Dr. Wistuba is the Division Head ad interim in the Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine as well as Professor and Chair of the Department of Translational Molecular Pathology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He serves as the Director of the Thoracic Molecular Pathology Laboratory, Director of The University of Texas Lung SPORE Tissue Bank, Director of the ECOG-ACRIN Central Biorepository and Pathology Facility (EA CBPF), Co-Director of the pre-CLIA Genomic Testing Developmental Laboratory, and pathologist for the SWOG Lung Cancer Committee. One of his major research interests is the elucidation of the molecular abnormalities involved in the pathogenesis and progression of lung cancer. My research interests also include identifying new molecular targets, validating biomarkers for targeted therapy and immunotherapy (Lung Cancer Consortium trials), and identifying molecular markers (genomic intra-tumor heterogeneity, oncogenes activation, tumor microenvironment) associated with lung cancer tumor development, progression, and metastasis development using annotated human specimens. In addition, he has established an invaluable tissue bank resource for thoracic malignancies at MD Anderson. Dr. Wistuba has co-authored over 700 peer-reviewed papers on oncology and is the PI or Co-PI on several molecular pathology and biomarker projects supported by multi-investigators and multi-institutional grants, and research agreements, including The University of Texas Lung Cancer NCI-SPORE grant, MD Anderson NCI-CCSG Tissue Bank and Pathology Resource, CPRIT Multi-Investigators Research Awards, and NCI-U24 grants to include ECOG-ACRIN CBPF and MD Anderson Center for Immune Monitoring Analysis of Cancer (CIMAC).

Raymond U. Osarogiagbon, MBBS, FACP
Chief Scientist and Director, Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program
Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation

Dr. Osarogiagbon is the Chief Scientist at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, headquartered in Memphis, TN. He is Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Baptist Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the Baptist Health System/Mid-South Minority-Underserved Consortium NCORP. He is a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University, and a member of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.

Dr. Osarogiagbon’s research interests center around improving population-level outcomes of cancer care by improving care delivery systems and processes. His current major endeavor is ‘the Mid-South Miracle’ an institution-wide project to disseminate seven high-quality lung cancer control programs (including tobacco control, early detection, surgical quality improvement and clinical trials infrastructure) across a 111-county, six-state service area population of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation with the goal of reducing population-level lung cancer mortality by 25% greater than the US average over the course of a decade. He is a member of the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee, the Fleischner Society and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He is board certified in the Internal Medicine subspecialties of Hematology and Medical Oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.

Andrea B. McKee, MD
Partner
Radiation Oncology Associates and Chairman of Radiation Oncology
Lahey Hospital and Medical Center/Beth Israel Lahey Health
Radiation Oncology

Dr. Andrea McKee is current President and founding member of the Rescue Lung Society. She co-founded the Lahey lung screening program in 2011. She has been a part of the national movement that led to the USPSTF recommendation and Medicare approval of lung screening. Dr. McKee is chair emeritus of radiation oncology at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. She has co-authored numerous seminal peer-reviewed publications on CT lung screening and presently serves as Co-Director of the Massachusetts State CT Lung Screening Subcommittee, member of the Massachusetts State Cancer Control Steering Committee, and as an advisory board member to the Lung Cancer Alliance and American Lung Association.

Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
Vice Chair, National Lung Cancer Roundtable
Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery
University of Washington

Dr. Douglas E. Wood is The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington where he was previously Professor and Endowed Chair in Lung Cancer Research as well as the Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Wood received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and trained in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Wood has been a strong advocate for standardization of clinical pathways along with the development and adherence to clinical guidelines. Dr. Wood is the Chair of the Lung Screening Guidelines Panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and the Vice-Chair of the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Guidelines Panel for the NCCN. Most notably, Dr. Wood was the chair for the NCCN Lung Cancer Screening Panel which developed and published the first clinical guidelines for lung cancer screening. Dr. Wood has been very involved in the leadership of cardiothoracic surgery professional organizations. He served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for over 20 years, completing a 5 year term as Secretary of the Society, and was the President of STS in 2013 – 2014. He has worked on national transplant policy while serving on the Board of Directors of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS). Dr. Wood was elected President of the Seattle Surgical Society in 2005 and the Western Thoracic Surgical Association in 2008. Dr. Wood is also involved in graduate medical education where he recently served as a Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and as Chair of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery (RRC-Thoracic). Dr. Wood recently served as President of the Thoracic Surgery Foundation and President of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network (CTSNet).

Amanda Nerstad
Patient Advocate
ALK Positive, Inc.

Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCPP, FRCP
Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine and Medical Oncology
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

Edith Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCPP, FRCP, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine and Medical Oncology, Associate Director for Diversity Programs, and Director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Mitchell has spent her medical career helping individuals in medically underserved areas to realize that simple changes in lifestyle can have a dramatic impact on cancer care. Dr. Mitchell has authored and co-authored more than 150 articles and chapters on cancer treatment, prevention, and cancer control. She has received many Cancer Research and Principal Investigator Awards, including a Promise Grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She serves on the National Cancer Institute Review Panel, the Cancer Investigations Review Committee, and the Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee.

M. Patricia Rivera, MD, ATSF, FCCP
Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Wilmot Cancer Institute, University of Rochester

My commitment to improving the care of lung cancer patients has led me to dedicate a great deal of my time to promoting state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary care. My research interests have focused on the early detection of lung cancer, toxicities caused by therapies in lung cancer, and the prevalence of lung cancer in women. I am currently an active participant in the CHEST (American College of Chest Physicians) Lung Cancer Guidelines Initiative and served as an integral part of the guideline’s development and implementation. My expertise in the continuum of lung cancer care catapulted my interest in developing a multidisciplinary lung cancer screening (LCS) program at UNC. I am recognized as one of several pulmonologists with LCS program development and implementation expertise. I have been part of the UNC LCS initiative as a Co-Investigator, developing a lung screening registry, and as a Co-Investigator in the quality improvement of lung cancer screening implementation.

As Co-Director of the North Carolina Lung Cancer Screening Registry and through two NIH/NCI-funded grants, my research focuses on lung cancer screening implementation and the impact of co-morbidities on lung cancer screening outcomes. More recently, my collaboration with colleagues and work on disparities in eligibility and access to lung cancer screening has led me to explore genetic risk scores in lung cancer screening assessment, particularly in underserved populations.

Throughout my career, I have appreciated the importance of building and expanding research collaborations and sharing scientific knowledge to move the science of risk assessment and early detection of lung cancer.

In April 2022, I transitioned to the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) as Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division and Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute. I participate in the multidisciplinary lung cancer screening program at URMC, currently run by the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine division. At URMC, I joined a team of researchers dedicated to developing further lung cancer screening research. Moreover, to truly make a difference in mitigating lung cancer disparities, collaborative work with colleagues at the Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester and research colleagues at UNC and other institutions is paramount.

Shanada Monestime, PharmD, BCOP
Director, Community Engaged Research
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer

Loretta Erhunmwunsee, MD, FACS
Assistant Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery
Department of Surgery
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center

Brendon M. Stiles, MD, FACS
Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology
Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Scout, PhD, MA
Executive Director
National LGBT Cancer Network

Scout, MA, PhD, is the Executive Director of the National LGBT Cancer Network and the principal investigator of both the CDC-funded LGBTQ tobacco-related cancer disparity network and Out: The National Cancer Survey. He spends much of his time providing technical assistance for tobacco and cancer focusing agencies expanding their reach and engagement with LGBTQ+ populations. Scout has a long history in health policy analysis and a particular interest in expanding LGBTQ+ surveillance and research. He has faculty appointments at both Brown University and Boston Universities’ Schools of Public Health. His work has won him recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives, two state governments, and many city governments. Scout is an openly transgender father of three, a vegetarian, an avid hiker, and a runner.

Zsolt J. Nagykaldi, PhD
Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Dr. Nagykaldi is a Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He is also the Research Director of the Oklahoma Physicians Resource / Research Network and the Associate Director of Community-Engaged Research within the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resource and the Oklahoma Primary Healthcare Improvement Collaborative. Since 2001, Dr. Nagykaldi has been working closely with healthcare professionals throughout the United States and internationally to improve the quality, safety, and cost of healthcare through practice-based and community-engaged health services research. He participated in or led a number of research and quality improvement projects that focused on preventive services delivery, management of chronic conditions, patient and community-centered healthcare, clinical decision support, shared decision making, and the development or implementation of health information technology in primary care settings. Partnering with patients, clinicians, and rural, tribal, and underserved communities, he developed and tested various interventions, facilitated the development of public-private partnerships, worked on primary care pandemic preparedness, implemented innovative practice improvement methods, and promoted community-engaged participatory research. Dr. Nagykaldi authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and presented widely on his work. He has also taught and mentored numerous clinical learners at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Arif H. Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO
Chief Patient Officer
American Cancer Society

Dr. Arif Kamal serves as chief patient officer at the American Cancer Society. In this newly created role, Dr. Kamal drives coordinated efforts to accelerate progress against cancer through the organization’s patient-, caregiver-, and healthcare professional-facing activities.

He leads the American Cancer Society’s patient support objectives and the development of strategic plans to measurably improve the lives of people with cancer and their families. Dr. Kamal oversees the organization’s cancer support, patient navigation, educational programs, patient lodging solutions, transportation services, contact center, and digital patient support offerings, as well as all aspects of organizational functions that touch cancer patients across 5,000 communities around the globe.

Prior to joining the American Cancer Society, Dr. Kamal served for more than 12 years as an oncologist, researcher, and innovative leader at Duke University and the Duke Cancer Institute. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the Duke University School of Medicine, and recently served as physician quality and outcomes officer at the Duke Cancer Institute. He holds nationally recognized expertise in oncology quality assessment and palliative care.

In addition to clinical and academic pursuits at Duke Cancer Institute, Dr. Kamal co-founded Prepped Health, a company that develops innovative technology solutions to educate and engage patients facing a serious illness like cancer and their caregivers. He also holds several leadership positions within prestigious national professional organizations, has won numerous awards, and is a prolific author.

Dr. Kamal received his medical degree from the six-year combined BA/MD program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with residencies and fellowships at the Mayo Clinic and Duke University. He holds a master’s degree in health science in clinical research from Duke University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.

Dr. Kamal lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and two young children.

Robert A. Winn, MD
Director, Massey Cancer Center
Virginia Commonwealth University

Dr. Robert A. Winn is the Director of the Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Professor in the VCU Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine. As Director of Massey Cancer Center, he establishes the Cancer Center’s Vision and Mission and oversees all initiatives, research, training, and clinical activities. His research and clinical practice background, along with progressively increasing administrative responsibilities, including the directorship of the Cancer Center at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System, Chicago, position him strongly to direct the research and planning activities at Massey Cancer Center.

As a pulmonologist and physician-scientist, Dr. Winn’s research centers on lung cancer, health disparities, and community-based health care. His research has focused on developing novel in vitro and in vivo models to study the more translational aspects of the role that the Wnt pathway plays in lung cancer, which has resulted in a number of peer-reviewed journal publications. Dr. Winn has been awarded several NIH and Veterans Affairs (VA) grants and has had a long history of developing productive collaborations with other successful VA Merit and R01 funded researchers. Additionally, he has served as the principal investigator on several community-based projects funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Cancer Institute, including the All of Us Research Program, a NIH precision medicine initiative. Dr. Winn is committed to developing methods to eliminate health disparities, and will continue to focus his efforts to empower underserved patient populations, improve health care delivery, and ensure equal access to cutting-edge medical treatment.

Jane Kim, MD, MPH
Executive Director For Preventive Medicine
National Center For Health Promotion And Disease Prevention
Veterans Health Administration

As Chief Consultant, Dr. Jane Kim serves as the principal adviser to VHA on all issues related to preventive medicine and is responsible for promoting the expansion and improvement of clinical, research, training, and educational activities associated with the VHA preventive services through the design, development, and implementation of related policies and programs. Board-certified in preventive medicine and internal medicine, she also currently serves as an Associate Professor in Duke University’s Department of Medicine.

Amelia Khalil
Team Lead, Quality Recognition and Health Promotion
Bureau of Primary Health Care, Office of Quality Improvement
Health Resources and Services Administration

Amelia Khalil is the Team Lead in the Quality Division of the Office of Quality Improvement in the Bureau of Primary Health Care within the Health Resources and Services Administration. Amelia has over 25 years of experience managing public health programs specializing in behavioral health, HIV, and chronic disease management. She holds a Master’s Degree in Addictions Counseling from Slippery Rock University in western Pennsylvania.

Maureen Rigney, MSW
Senior Director of Support Initiatives
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer

Cherie P. Erkmen, MD, FACS
Professor, Thoracic Medicine and Surgery
Temple University

Mary M. Pasquinelli, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner, Pulmonary and Medical Oncology, Lung Cancer Screening
University of Illinois at Chicago

Mary Pasquinelli is currently a nurse practitioner specializing in lung cancer at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System in Chicago (UI Health). She has over 30 years of oncology nursing experience. She holds a Master’s degree of Science in Family Practice Nursing and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. A major focus of her career has been focused on socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in Chicago. She established and oversees the UI Health’s Lung Cancer Screening Program. Clinically she sees patients across the spectrum of lung neoplasms from those who are high risk for lung cancer, have pulmonary nodules, and patients on treatment for lung cancer. She prides herself in seeing lung malignancy patients throughout the entire continuum of care, i.e., from lung cancer screening through diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Her research interests are in health disparities in lung cancer screening and in general thoracic oncology.

Raymond U. Osarogiagbon, MBBS, FACP
Chief Scientist and Director, Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program
Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation

Dr. Osarogiagbon is the Chief Scientist at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, headquartered in Memphis, TN. He is Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Baptist Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the Baptist Health System/Mid-South Minority-Underserved Consortium NCORP. He is a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University, and a member of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.

Dr. Osarogiagbon’s research interests center around improving population-level outcomes of cancer care by improving care delivery systems and processes. His current major endeavor is ‘the Mid-South Miracle’ an institution-wide project to disseminate seven high-quality lung cancer control programs (including tobacco control, early detection, surgical quality improvement and clinical trials infrastructure) across a 111-county, six-state service area population of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation with the goal of reducing population-level lung cancer mortality by 25% greater than the US average over the course of a decade. He is a member of the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee, the Fleischner Society, the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable. He is board certified in the Internal Medicine subspecialties of Hematology and Medical Oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.

Claudia T. Miller, BSN, RN, OCN, ONN-CG
Thoracic Oncology Nurse Navigator
Medical University of South Carolina

I have been a practicing Oncology RN for approaching 22 years. For 15 of those years, I have functioned as the Thoracic Oncology Nurse Navigator at the Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC. I maintain certification as an Oncology Certified Nurse (OCN) and Oncology Nurse Navigator – Certified Generalist (ONN-CG). I am an active member of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and the Academy of Oncology Nurse Navigators (AONN). I received my Associate Degree of Nursing in 1999 and then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude with my Bachelor of Nursing from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2015. Prior to entering the nursing field, I held a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and worked as a Certified Social Worker with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

Amanda Nerstad
Vice President
ALK Positive, Inc.

John Hallick
President, MET Crusaders
Co-President, Biomarker Collaborative

Raymond U. Osarogiagbon, MBBS, FACP
Chief Scientist and Director
Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program
Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation

Dr. Osarogiagbon is the Chief Scientist at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, headquartered in Memphis, TN. He is Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Baptist Cancer Center and Principal Investigator of the Baptist Health System/Mid-South Minority-Underserved Consortium NCORP. He is a Research Professor at Vanderbilt University, and a member of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.

Dr. Osarogiagbon’s research interests center around improving population-level outcomes of cancer care by improving care delivery systems and processes. His current major endeavor is ‘the Mid-South Miracle’ an institution-wide project to disseminate seven high-quality lung cancer control programs (including tobacco control, early detection, surgical quality improvement and clinical trials infrastructure) across a 111-county, six-state service area population of the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation with the goal of reducing population-level lung cancer mortality by 25% greater than the US average over the course of a decade. He is a member of the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee, the Fleischner Society and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He is board certified in the Internal Medicine subspecialties of Hematology and Medical Oncology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.

Lisa Carter-Bawa, PhD, APRN, ANP-C, FAAN
Director, Center for Discovery & Innovation
Hackensack Meridian Health

Dr. Lisa Carter-Bawa is a behavioral scientist with over 15 years of clinical experience as an adult nurse practitioner. She completed her PhD at the University of Louisville in 2013 and a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University in Behavioral Oncology in 2015. She was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing for her work in patient-clinician communication in complex cancer screening decisions in 2018. She is currently an Associate Attending Behavioral Scientist and the Associate Research Director of the Tobacco Research, Training & Treatment Lab in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with a parallel appointment as Associate Professor of Population Health at Weill Cornell Medical College as well as an Affiliate Investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Prior to joining MSK, she was an Assistant Professor at Indiana University School of Nursing. Dr. Carter’s research focuses on understanding the many factors that influence the decision-making process in lung cancer screening decisions as well as actual screening behavior. She has a particular passion for understanding how stigma influences the decision to screen, or not, for lung cancer, and has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, Cancer Research Network, Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Population Science Research Program. She has been a strong advocate of understanding the patient perspective in lung cancer screening and credits the many wonderful individuals who have been involved in her studies for shaping her perspective on research and care in lung cancer. Dr. Carter serves on two Task Groups of the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable; she is a member of the Provider Engagement and Outreach Task Group and the Vice Chair of the Survivorship, Stigma, and Nihilism Task Group. She was recently appointed to the Editorial Board of Nursing Research, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Nursing. She also serves as an executive board member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Board of the Centralized Institutional Review Board of the National Cancer Institute as well as many academic and national committees aimed at improving cancer prevention, early detection and decreasing inequities in care.

Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH
Vice President, Research
LUNGevity Foundation

Natalie Brown
Patient Advocate
LUNGevity Foundation

Natalie Brown is in software sales and enjoys providing happiness to her clients. She was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer during the pandemic, which made things a lot more challenging. She is focused on raising awareness and educating others about lung cancer. Natalie enjoys working out, playing with her puppy, spending time with her family and friends and traveling.

James Pantelas
Patient Advocate
Veterans Health Administration

Heidi Nafman-Onda, MS & Pierre Onda, MD, MPH
Patient Advocates
The White Ribbon Project

Heidi Nafman-Onda is a lung cancer survivor and was diagnosed with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer in October 2018. She was asymptomatic and her lung cancer was found incidentally while undergoing investigation of an ovarian cyst for ovarian cancer. She never had a cough. She is a lifelong health enthusiast.

Heidi is a certified fitness trainer and holds a BA in psychology from UCLA and a Master of Science degree in health education from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. She worked with the HIV/AIDS community from 1991-1994 in Los Angeles, CA, where she offered prevention education, awareness efforts, and emotional support to those living with the disease and to their families and friends.

In addition to her advocacy work for The White Ribbon Project, Heidi serves as a volunteer phone buddy offering support to patients who have been newly diagnosed with lung cancer under the auspices of the GO2 and LUNGevity Foundations. Heidi currently devotes 40 hours per week to lung cancer advocacy, with about 30% of that time constructing and shipping wooden white ribbons to other lung cancer survivors and advocates, physicians, and cancer centers.

In her role as a founding White Ribbon Project advocate, Heidi seeks to encourage other lung cancer survivors and advocates to mobilize their efforts to increase awareness about lung cancer, change the public perception of the disease, and work to help improve prevention, early detection, and treatment of lung cancer.

Pierre Onda, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine primary care physician and Heidi’s husband and caregiver. He received his medical degree from The Medical College of Pennsylvania (currently known as Drexel University College of Medicine) in 1991 and completed his residency in internal medicine at UCLA in 1994.

He also holds a BA in biology from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master’s degree in biology from Stanford University, and a Master’s degree in public health with a focus on health education from UCLA. He has had numerous physician leadership roles within Kaiser Permanente, Colorado, and is a former member of the Board of Directors for his 1,000+ member multispecialty medical group (Colorado Permanente Medical Group).

Pierre produces the white ribbons, attends advocacy meetings, supports the whole team, and organizes ribbon-making events. He is passionate about teaching other physicians the realities of lung cancer.

Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology
Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research
Co-Leader, Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Program
Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center

Lisa Carter-Bawa, PhD, APRN, ANP-C, FAAN
Director, Center for Discovery & Innovation
Hackensack Meridian Health

Dr. Lisa Carter-Bawa is a behavioral scientist with over 15 years of clinical experience as an adult nurse practitioner. She completed her PhD at the University of Louisville in 2013 and a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University in Behavioral Oncology in 2015. She was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing for her work in patient-clinician communication in complex cancer screening decisions in 2018. She is currently an Associate Attending Behavioral Scientist and the Associate Research Director of the Tobacco Research, Training & Treatment Lab in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with a parallel appointment as Associate Professor of Population Health at Weill Cornell Medical College as well as an Affiliate Investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Prior to joining MSK, she was an Assistant Professor at Indiana University School of Nursing. Dr. Carter’s research focuses on understanding the many factors that influence the decision-making process in lung cancer screening decisions as well as actual screening behavior. She has a particular passion for understanding how stigma influences the decision to screen, or not, for lung cancer, and has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, Cancer Research Network, Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Population Science Research Program. She has been a strong advocate of understanding the patient perspective in lung cancer screening and credits the many wonderful individuals who have been involved in her studies for shaping her perspective on research and care in lung cancer. Dr. Carter serves on two Task Groups of the American Cancer Society’s National Lung Cancer Roundtable; she is a member of the Provider Engagement and Outreach Task Group and the Vice Chair of the Survivorship, Stigma, and Nihilism Task Group. She was recently appointed to the Editorial Board of Nursing Research, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Nursing. She also serves as an executive board member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Board of the Centralized Institutional Review Board of the National Cancer Institute as well as many academic and national committees aimed at improving cancer prevention, early detection and decreasing inequities in care.

Alan J. Balch, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
National Patient Advocate Foundation

Laura A. Petrillo, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital

Julia L. Agne, MD
Hospice & Palliative Medicine Specialist
The Ohio State University

Jill Feldman
Patient Advocate
EGFR Resisters

Jill Feldman is a lung cancer patient and advocate. When Jill was 13 years old, she lost her dad and two grandparents to lung cancer and then her mom and close aunt died of lung cancer when she was in her 20’s. She became a volunteer, an advocate and past president of LUNGevity Foundation before the unthinkable happened. In 2009, at 39 years old with four small children, Jill herself was diagnosed with EGFR positive lung cancer.

Jill continues to be involved with LUNGevity. She is also Chair of IASLC’s patient advisory board and a member of The Chicago Institute of Translational Medicine’s patient advisory board. Jill is committed to understanding and promoting patient-centered research as a member of the programmatic panel for the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program, as a member of the ECOG-ACRIN Research Group’s patient advocate committee and thoracic committee, and as the patient advocate on the American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable steering committee. She is a co-founder of the EGFR Resisters, a grassroots, patient-driven community committed to accelerating research that will prolong and better the lives of people diagnosed with EGFRm lung cancer. Jill has collaborated on research projects with nonprofit advocacy organizations, co-authored research papers and articles, and was the project lead on the recently published IASLC’s Language Guide to promote person first, stigma free, blame free, equitable and inclusive language. Jill also continues to share her story in the media and at various events and participates in countless advocacy opportunities to shine a light on lung cancer to end the stigma associated with it and to embed a health equity lens in all aspects of research and care.