Our Mission
The American Cancer Society National Lung Cancer Roundtable (NLCRT) is a consortium of public, private, and voluntary organizations that work together to fight lung cancer by engaging in research and projects that no one organization can take on alone. It is the NLCRT’s belief that working collectively and collaboratively will drive progress faster to reduce lung cancer mortality.
Formally launched in March 2017, the American Cancer Society has galvanized more than 200 national and international volunteer experts and patient and caregiver advocate representatives and more than 160 of the leading patient advocacy organizations, professional medical societies, state and federal government agencies, cancer centers, academic institutions, and health systems, health plans, and corporate associates to form the Roundtable. Our membership continues to grow.
Through its multidimensional approach, the NLCRT aims to stimulate multidisciplinary collaborations that drive actions to reduce lung cancer mortality. The NLCRT is guided by its strategic plan with direction and input from an active multidisciplinary Steering Committee. Strategic priority Task Groups develop and manage projects that fall into their scope of work along the lung cancer continuum. This work aims to promote increased lung cancer awareness, risk reduction, early detection, assurance of optimal diagnosis and therapy, and elimination of lung cancer-related stigma through educating individuals with lung cancer, their families, and providers and supporting targeted clinical and policy-related research. We are working to ensure high-quality access to the continuum of care for all adults at risk for, or affected by, lung cancer with particular attention to where disparities exist by sex, race, ethnicity, income, insurance status, and geography.
The Roundtable serves as a catalyst to stimulate greater levels of collaborative engagement among member organizations’ work on key lung cancer issues. It does not duplicate the efforts of its more than 160 members, but rather the NLCRT engages in dialogue with them to find the gaps in knowledge, assess the challenges and barriers, and develop and implement evidence-based solutions throughout the lung cancer continuum of care. These complex challenges require innovative and creative solutions that can only come from multidisciplinary partnerships. Together we can make the most effective progress in fighting the disease.
Our Members
A fundamental premise of the NLCRT is that collective, collaborative, and strategic action among the member organizations will be more successful in reducing the burden of disease and in reducing that burden faster. A core principle of the Roundtable is that it does not duplicate or take on roles of member organizations, but rather the Roundtable seeks to enhance the contributions of member organizations to lung cancer care and control through greater engagement with other leading advocacy organizations, clinician groups, and scientists, as well as to take on priority initiatives that all organizations would judge to be worthy but would be unlikely to initiate on their own.
Together, members work to share information, identify needs and opportunities, and address gaps in research, programs, activities, and services relating to lung cancer. The strength of such a partnership, united in mission, enhances the work of each member and furthers the cause of lung cancer risk reduction, early detection, and diagnosis and treatment.
More than 160 organizations have officially become members of the NLCRT since membership opened in 2017. Our member organizations and individual volunteer experts are encouraged to meet together every year at the annual conference in December.
Become A Member
It takes many voices to create an effective coalition. Learn how your organization can apply to become a member of the Roundtable.
NLCRT Leadership
Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, MS, FACR, FSABI
Dr. Ella A. Kazerooni is a Professor of Radiology & Internal Medicine, Associate Chair for Clinical Affairs & Director of Cardiothoracic Radiology at the University of Michigan Medicine.
Steering Committee Chair
Douglas E. Wood, MD, FACS, FRCSEd
Dr. Douglas E. Wood is The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at University of Washington.
Steering Committee Vice Chair
Robert A. Smith, PhD, FSBI
Dr. Robert A. Smith is the Vice President, Cancer Screening and the Director of Cancer Screening Center at the National Office of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia.
Steering Committee Member