- Learn about the new Scientific Executive Committee and Education + Engagement Committee, and meet our new board member, Matt Cipriani.
- Read about the Evening of Innovation gala and view the gala journal.
- Sign up for the next #TogetherSeparately livestream octubre 19, and view past recordings.
- Join a Free to Breathe Walk in New York, Chicago, or New Jersey – or our Anywhere Walk, wherever and whenever you’d like!
- Register for the virtual Scientific Symposium on noviembre 1.
News
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation’s inaugural Evening of Innovation gala celebrated scientific discovery, honored the work of lung cancer luminaries, and raised funds for research that will save lives. The event, which raised $655,000 for lung cancer research, included a live auction facilitated by Joey Quigley from Christie’s.
New York Times best-selling author Annabelle Gurwitch, a lung cancer advocate and patient, was the evening’s emcee. Read more about Annabelle here. Guest speaker Isabella de la Houssaye shared her experiences as a patient with Stage IV lung cancer.
This year’s gala honored Dr. Brendon M. Stiles, who has served as a member on the LCRF Board of Directors since 2015. Notably, he served as Board Chair from 2017-21 and is currently serving as Vice Chair. Dr. Stiles is chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery & Surgical Oncology for Montefiore-Einstein Medical Center in New York City. Raymond J. McGuire introduced Dr. Stiles during the event.
Dr. Mark G. Kris presented LCRF’s Founders Award to Dr. David Hidalgo, Clinical Professor of Surgery at Weill-Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Read the press release here. The gala journal is available online at LCRF.org/galajournal.
View more photos at LCRF.org/galaphotos.
The good news. Scientists have discovered one way that air pollution can cause cancer, even in people who have never smoked.
How does air pollution cause lung cancer? The researchers found out that “normal” lung cells in some people who have never smoked have a rare mutation (EGFR mutation); however, most of these people do not get lung cancer. The scientists also found that the chances of these cells becoming cancerous are higher in areas with a lot of air pollution. Finally, using mice, they discovered that the particles in air pollution (called PM2.5) can irritate these cells, causing them to grow and grow until a lung cancer is formed.
Why it’s significant. Smoking is responsible for about 70% of lung cancers, leaving about 30% occurring in people who have never smoked. In fact, if lung cancer unrelated to smoking was classified as its own disease, it would be the 8th leading cause of cancer deaths. While it had widely been accepted that air pollution causes lung cancer, scientists never knew for certain how it did so. Now that we know, scientists may be able to identify ways to prevent PM2.5 from irritating lung cells which already have a EGFR mutation.
These findings were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress this month by Professor Charles Swanton. Cancer Research UK-funded scientists at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London (UCL) have revealed how air pollution can cause lung cancer in people who have never smoked. LCRF grantee, Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, MD, PhD, was a member of this team and her work an integral part of these findings.
Actor, activist, and author teams up with LCRF to increase awareness of lung cancer and honor Dr. Brendon M. Stiles for his service to the foundation and the lung cancer community
NEW YORK, NY (septiembre 21, 2022) – Annabelle Gurwitch, who was diagnosed with Stage IV EGFR non-small cell lung cancer when she went in for a COVID-19 test in 2020, will emcee Lung Cancer Research Foundation’s (LCRF) 2022 Evening of Innovation Gala on septiembre 28, honoring Dr. Brendon M. Stiles. Ms. Gurwitch recently shared opening remarks at the opening plenary session of International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vienna, Austria.
Dr. Stiles serves as LCRF’s Vice Chair for its Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board and is Professor and Chief, Thoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology, Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery at Montefiore-Einstein, and the Associate Director for Surgical Services in the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center. He is actively involved in both clinical and translational research, particularly focusing on lung cancer. His clinical research concentrates on the management of early stage or screen detected lung cancer and on novel multidisciplinary treatment strategies for patients with lung cancer. Having lost his own father to lung cancer in 2005, Dr. Stiles is committed to raising money for lung cancer research, serving as chair of the LCRF from 2017-2021.
Ms. Gurwitch is approaching her 2-year “cancerversary” and has been on a targeted therapy since her diagnosis, about which she has mixed feelings. She shared this personal statement with LCRF:
“My second “cancerversary” is coming up this fall, marking 2 years on a biomarker targeted therapy after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer during a routine COVID test. The biomarker targeted therapy has allowed me to continue living with a great quality of life and few side effects. Yes, I once was so overcome with fatigue that I had to lay down on a sidewalk to rest before I could make it the less than one mile from my home and I now drink more coffee than you’d think humanly possible, but there is a caveat: lung cancer is a particularly wily cancer. The cancer figures out how to develop resistance to even these new innovative gene targeted medications.
So, I want to help spread the message that researchers, scientists, and doctors who have dedicated their lives to finding new and innovative ways to identify and treat lung cancer – like Dr. Brendon Stiles – are close to understanding and countering this resistance to treatments. The difference in new advancements comes down to funding. Here’s some perspective:
- Lung cancer is still the neglected middle child of cancers overshadowed by breast and colon, both in diagnostic testing and fundraising efforts, even though more people will die of lung cancer than breast and colon cancer, combined.
- Per related death, spending: $1,680 for lung cancer research compared to $24,846 for breast cancer.
For me, there’s a ticking clock. My oncologist hasn’t had a patient get more than 5 years on the medication I am now taking. The next line of treatment won’t be as easy to tolerate, will impact my quality of life and, once progression starts, the clock is ticking even faster. I hope to see the resistance overcome; I hope the advancements come in time for me. I’m the mother of a 24-year-old who graduated college during a COVID lockdown, and I want to be around to see them get established, continue to thrive, and (fingers crossed) get to see some grandchildren! But even if the advancement doesn’t come in time for me, I’m determined to see that the next person who receives a diagnosis like mine has a better chance at long term survival.”
In addition to honoring the career and contributions of Dr. Stiles, LCRF will honor Dr. David Hidalgo with its inaugural Founder’s Award. The Founders Award honors individuals who make significant contributions to LCRF and exemplify the spirit and ideals of the founders of the organization.
“We’re so pleased to be honoring both Dr. Stiles and Dr. Hidalgo at this event,” said Reina Honts, chair of LCRF’s Board of Directors. “Dr. Stiles’ personal and professional contribution to lung cancer patients and his commitment to accelerating lung cancer research is immeasurable. We are indebted to Dr. Hidalgo’s long-standing support of lung cancer research and the mission of LCRF. It is my pleasure to recognize them both for their contributions.”
LCRF’s Evening of Innovation Gala is sponsored in part by Bristol Myers Squibb. Supporters of lung cancer research can learn more about the event, which will be held on septiembre 28 at the Metropolitan Club in New York City, by visiting LCRF.org/gala.
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About Annabelle Gurwitch:
Annabelle Gurwitch is a New York Times bestselling author of five books, including her most recent collection of essays, You’re Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility (paperback, spring 2022) a New York Times’ Favorite Book for Healthy Living 2021. Ms. Gurwitch was the longtime host of Dinner & a Movie on TBS, a regular NPR contributor, and has written for The New Yorker, New York Times, The Washington Post, Hadassah Magazine, O Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal, amongst other publications. She co-hosts the Tiny Victories podcast on the Maximum Fun Podcast Network, and recently published an article in the Washington Post titled “Tackling cancer while battling the insurance system.”
Ms. Gurwitch has been an activist for numerous causes including environmental sustainability and housing insecurity. In the Spring of 2020, a routine Covid test led to diagnosis of Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Ms. Gurwitch wrote about the diagnosis in a widely shared op-ed, “Covid Saved my Life” in the New York Times. Since then, she’s spoken and written about living with lung cancer on Good Morning America, and in interviews on Salon.com, NPR, and numerous other media outlets. Her most recent cancer chronicle was the viral op-ed “The End of my Life was Killing Me” in the Washington Post. Gurwitch is a dedicated atheist and a doting Jewish mother of a 20-something gender queer person. She lives in Los Angeles.
About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit LCRF.org.
Contact:
Sheila Sullivan
Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications, LCRF
Dr. Narjust Florez joined Dr. Isabel Preeshagul to discuss the issues women with lung cancer face during treatment. Watch the recording below.
David Parks is currently cycling from Antler, North Dakota to Del Rio, Texas… a trip of roughly 1,500 miles, all while raising awareness of lung cancer and funds for research. As of sep. 19, he has raised over $8,000!
While David is a survivor of lung cancer, he dedicates the journey to the memory of two childhood friends he has lost to this disease. Christopher “Kit” Blakemore and Warren Humble were diagnosed with lung cancer around the same time as David. “None of us smoked and we maintained high levels of physical fitness, but apparently lung cancer does not read resumes,” David said.
You can read David’s updates during the ride at LCRF.org/bluehighways2022.
Committee to steward foundation’s educational resources and outreach programs
NEW YORK, NY (septiembre 6, 2022) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is pleased to announce the appointment of a select group of volunteers to its newly formed Education & Engagement Committee. Comprised of clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers and advocates, this committee is tasked with ensuring that LCRF is providing educational content that is relevant, helpful, and meets the needs of the lung cancer community. In addition, it will ensure these resources are readily available to inform and empower individuals on their lung cancer journey.
The new committee grew out of LCRF’s Patient Education Review Committee, led by Dr. Narjust Florez and Dr. Joan Schiller. Dr. Isabel Preeshagul is chair of the new Education & Engagement Committee, and Drs. Florez and Schiller remain critical advisors.
“I am so pleased to see the evolution of this advisory committee,” says Dr. Schiller. “Working with Dr. Preeshagul and the LCRF staff to deliver programs and resources that meet the needs of lung cancer patients, their caregivers, and their healthcare teams is an important part of ensuring that LCRF is able to deliver on its research commitments.”
“I’m delighted to be chairing this incredible committee,” commented Dr. Preeshagul. “With Dr. Schiller’s invaluable experience and guidance, this dedicated group of volunteers will make certain that LCRF’s programs and resources are always timely, accurate, and accessible for all patients with lung cancer and those who care for them. This committee’s varied membership provides us with a diverse perspective, ensuring that we continue to deliver high quality comprehensive information. I’m excited about the positive difference we’re making in the lives of patients, caregivers, and their families through LCRF’s programs.”
“As a primary caregiver to someone with a lung cancer diagnosis, having access to resources, information, and experts in the field is important to me – and raising awareness of lung cancer without stigma even more so,” says Rhonda Meckstroth. “LCRF has been a resource for me, and I’m honored to be a part of such an important committee. I can lend my experience to help others in my shoes, and help people understand that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.”
Members of the Education & Engagement Committee serve a two-year term and share a commitment to the mission of LCRF: to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer.
LCRF’s Education & Engagement Committee Members:
Isabel Preeshagul, DO, MBS
Committee Chair
Assistant Attending Physician, Thoracic Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Sydney Barned, MD
Survivor and Advocate
Internal Medicine Hospitalist
Anne Arundel Medical Center
Dave Bjork
Survivor and Advocate
Vice President of Empowerment
GRYT Health
Phil Bonomi, MD, MS
Professor Emeritus
Rush University Medical Center
Meghan Cox
Advocate
Denise D. Cutlip
Survivor and Advocate
Devika Das, MD, MSHQS
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Section Chief of Oncology, Birmingham VA Medical Center
Narjust Florez (Duma), MD
Associate Director, Cancer Care Equity Program
Thoracic Medical Oncologist
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Cancer Center
Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School
Kathryn A. Gold, MD
Clinical Professor of Medicine
University of California San Diego, Moores Cancer Center
Benjamin Philip Levy, MD
Clinical Director of Medical Oncology
Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
Associate Professor of Oncology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Stephen V. Liu, MD
Thoracic Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine
Georgetown University
Director of Thoracic Oncology and the Head of Developmental Therapeutics
Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Rhonda Meckstroth
Caregiver and Advocate
Catherine Paykin, MSSW, LCSW
Social Worker
NYU Langone Health
Jyoti D. Patel, MD
Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Rachel Sanborn, MD
Medical Director, Thoracic Oncology Program
Medical Director of Phase I Clinical Trials Program
Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, Earle A. Chiles Research Institute at Providence Cancer Institute
Joan H. Schiller, MD
Deputy Director, Inova Schar Cancer Center (Emeritus)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine
University of Virginia
Nagashree Seetharamu, MD, MBBS
Medical Oncologist, Thoracic and Head and Neck Oncology
Monter Cancer Center, Northwell Health Center for Advanced Medicine
Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Christos Stavropoulos, MD, FACS
Director of Thoracic Oncology
The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center (Englewood Health)
Ishwaria M. Subbiah, MD, MS
Medical Oncologist
Palliative Care and Integrative Medicine Physician
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit LCRF.org.
The good news:
Two pieces of good news, actually… (1) the FDA has approved a new, targeted drug for patients with HER-2 positive NSCLC: trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd or Enhertu©), and (2) it has a unique mechanism of action that will open the door to a new class of drugs: antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs.
Who it impacts:
Patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer for whom a first-line therapy has failed, and whose tumor harbors a mutation in HER-2 gene.
Why it’s significant:
Unlike breast cancer, HER-2 mutations are rare in non-small cell lung cancer (about 5% of all NSCLCs). Until now, there has been no drug approved for specifically targeting these mutations, as there have been for tumors with EGFR mutations, for example.
T-DXd is an antibody hooked up to a type of chemotherapy (a topoisomerase I inhibitor). When given intravenously, the antibody portion of the molecule binds to cells with a mutated HER-2 on their surface. The molecule is taken up by the cancer cell, and the linker between the antibody and the chemotherapy drug is broken, so the drug will be delivered very specifically only to cancer cells that have a mutated HER-2.
The drug was approved based up a clinical trial (DESTINY-Lung02), which reported an impressive response rate of close to 60% in these previously treated patients. This was a conditional approval, meaning that because of the exciting results, the FDA will allow T-DXd on the market. However, since DESTINY-Lung02 was a small study, the manufacturer will need to conduct a larger, confirmatory Phase 3 study to get full approval. T-DXd has been approved for breast and gastric cancers, but this is the first time an antibody-drug conjugate has been approved for the treatment of lung cancer patients, so this can also be seen as a “proof of concept” for ADCs.
Marleen Meyers, MD; Jill Feldma;, and Isabel Preeshagul, DO, MBS; joined us for LCRF’s agosto 2022 #TogetherSeparately livestream, “Surviving Survivorship.”
Watch the recording below.
Reina Honts, LCRF Board Chair, recently hosted a Shopping for a Cause event at her residence with local family and friends with funds raised going towards lung cancer research.
Her daughter, Reine, also hosted her annual Bracelets & Cookies sale! Reine and her friends, Charlotte and Bordley, raised $1,250 together for research. You go girls!
Thank you to Reina and her family for coming together and creating creative ideas to fundraise their way!
The events may have passed but there is always time to support Reina and Reine!
