Dr. Mark Awad is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Chief of Thoracic Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his MD and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency and chief residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and his medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His translational research focus is on identifying biomarkers of response and resistance to targeted therapies and immunotherapies in lung cancer. He has been working with a number of laboratories to study the genetics and immune microenvironment of lung tumors in order to develop better immune therapies and targeted therapies for patients with cancer.

Upal Basu Roy is Executive Director of Research at LUNGevity Foundation, the pre-eminent lung cancer patient advocacy group in the United States. In this capacity, he oversees the research strategy of LUNGevity Foundation, including the Translational Science Research Program and the Patient-Focused Research Center (Patient FoRCe). Within the Translational Science Research Program, he guides the award administration and peer review of lung cancer research grants, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of research projects that focus on improving outcomes via early detection and improved treatment options. He works closely with the Senior Director of Patient FoRCe, Dr. Bellinda King-Kallimanis, to design and implement research studies that seek to understand the lung cancer patient experience and identify unmet needs in education and access to care.  

As a patient research advocate, Upal works with national organizations such as the National Cancer Institute, other patient advocacy groups, and pharma partners on initiatives to increase access to high-quality lung cancer screening, biomarker-driven care, and clinical trials. Upal currently serves as a patient advocate on the Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee of the NCI.  

Before joining LUNGevity, Upal was a translational cancer researcher at the NYU School of Medicine. He received a PhD in Cancer Biology and an MPH in Global Health Policy and Management.  

Dr. Deepti Behl, M.D., a distinguished Medical Oncologist affiliated with the Sutter Medical Group, has established herself as a leader in the field of oncology through a combination of clinical expertise, research contributions, and administrative leadership.

Dr. Behl currently serves as the Chief of Oncology at Sutter Health in Sacramento, CA, a role she has held since 2023. She has been the Medical Director at the Sutter Institute for Medical Research (SIMR) since 2018 and the Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology at Sutter Medical Center since 2010.

Her educational background is extensive, having completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (2006-2009), preceded by a residency in Internal Medicine at the same institution (2003-2006). Dr. Behl earned her M.B.B.S. from Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, India, in 1996, followed by a residency in Internal Medicine at the Institute of Medical Sciences in Varanasi, India (1997-1999).

Dr. Behl holds multiple board certifications, including Medical Oncology (2009, recertified in 2020), Internal Medicine (2003), Hematology (2009), and Hospice and Palliative Care (2011). She is also board-eligible in Integrative Medicine (2023) and Lifestyle Medicine (2023).

Dr. Behl has made significant contributions to oncology research, evidenced by her numerous peer-reviewed publications. Highlights include studies on the efficacy and safety of treatments like Amivantamab for EGFR-Mutant NSCLC and Pembrolizumab for tumors with high tumor mutational burden, published in renowned journals like the Journal of Thoracic Oncology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

As a principal investigator for various National Cancer Institute (NCI) trials since 2018 and site principal investigator for numerous industry and cooperative group trials since 2010, Dr. Behl has played a crucial role in advancing cancer treatment. Her involvement in the TAPUR (Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry) Study, a significant project by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), underscores her commitment to personalized medicine.

Dr. Behl has been actively involved in education and mentorship throughout her career. She has moderated the Thoracic and Multidisciplinary Tumor Board at Sutter Cancer Center since 2010 and the Molecular Tumor Board from 2017 to 2021. She has also been teaching and mentoring nurse practitioner students from Samuel Merritt University since 2010.

Dr. Behl's excellence has been recognized through her numerous poster presentations at prestigious conferences, including the ASCO Annual Meeting and the North America Conference on Lung Cancer. Her work on racial/ethnic differences in cancer incidence and the use of medical cannabis in cancer patients are notable examples of her research interests.

Wondu has made significant contributions to cancer control and public health in Ethiopia, receiving multiple prestigious awards and recognitions for his work. As the Global Cancer Ambassador for Ethiopia, appointed by the American Cancer Society, he has demonstrated exceptional leadership in civil society cancer control initiatives.

In 2015, Wondu received the Community Based Treatment Support Program Star Award from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, and the President Bush Award from the George W. Bush Presidential Center, highlighting his impactful work in cancer treatment support. The Forum of African First Ladies/Spouses Against Cervical, Breast & Prostate Cancer also recognized his decade-long commitment to cancer prevention with the Pillar of Support Award.

His advocacy and leadership were further acknowledged with the Enabler of Vision Award at the International Conference on Gender and Sustainability in New York in 2017, and the Distinguished Community Social Service Award from People to People the same year. He was a finalist for the International Union Against Cancer CEO Award in 2018, being the sole African nominee among finalists from North America and Asia.

In 2019, Wondu received the Warrior Against Cancer award from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation in Durban, South Africa. His anti-tobacco efforts were recognized by the World Health Organization with the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2020. His organization, Mathiwos Wondu-YeEthiopia Cancer Society (MWECS), was awarded the Center of Excellence Certificate by USAID LCD Team for its exemplary financial and project management practices.

In 2023, MWECS was acknowledged by the Ethiopian Thoracic Society for its contributions to pulmonary and critical care medicine, and received the Golden Jubilee Good Practice Award from the Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Association for its impactful tobacco project.

Under Wondu's leadership, MWECS has played a pivotal role in national health initiatives, including supporting the Ministry of Health in developing the National Cancer Control Plan and the National Childhood and Adolescent Cancer Control Plan. MWECS has also been instrumental in the enactment of stringent tobacco and alcohol regulations and has managed significant projects such as the Childhood Cancer Mitigation Project, the Tobacco-CTFK supported project, and the Lung Cancer Project.

His ongoing projects, including the PEN-Plus Project for severe NCDs and the Initiatives in Lung Cancer Care, reflect a sustained commitment to improving cancer care and public health in Ethiopia. As a civil society activist and founding member of several national and international consortiums, his work has supported over 3,000 cancer patients and continues to provide vital assistance to 154 cancer patients and their families.

Following a PhD in Molecular Biology at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, UK, Dr Camidge completed his medical training at Oxford University, UK. He then became the first person to double train in Medical Oncology and Clinical Pharmacology in the UK, before joining the University of Colorado, USA from October 2005.  

Dr Camidge’s main clinical and research interests are thoracic malignancies and developmental therapeutics. The discoveries he and his team have made have changed the standard of care for the treatment of lung cancer multiple times. He has authored over 300 academic publications, including in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Lancet Oncology, and New England Journal of Medicine. He has received numerous awards including, in 2012, the Bonnie J. Addario International Lectureship Award for which he was credited as a ‘Luminary in the quest to eradicate lung cancer’. In 2013 he became the first physician to receive the Hank Baskett Sr. Spirit Award, for which he was credited as being ‘one of the leading minds in lung cancer today’. In 2014, he was nationally recognized by The Quality of Life Center at Claremont University in California as an ‘Exemplary mentor in the positive development of junior colleagues in the profession’. In 2016, the Lung Cancer Foundation presented him with the Breath Away From The Cure Award describing him as ‘Simply one of the best in treating lung cancer today’.  

Every year since 2017, he has been internationally recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher ranked in the top 1% of all of Clinical Medicine by Clarivate Analytics Web of Science. Every year from 2019 he has ranked at the ‘World Expert’ level by Expertscape for scholars writing about Lung Neoplasms over the past 10 years. He is also the National Medical Director of the Academic Thoracic Oncology Medical Investigators Consortium (ATOMIC) – a collaborative network of 16 US and Canadian sites conducting trials in thoracic oncology, Co-chair of the Elsevier ClinPath (formerly VIA) Oncology Lung Cancer Pathways Committee and a past-member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Lung Cancer Committee.  

Terri Conneran began the journey to battle stage III lung cancer at diagnosis in 2017. Return of her lung cancer prompted a second opinion, that identified her KRAS G12D biomarker. With a desire to become an informed patient, she started  KRAS Kickers  as a Facebook community  and website as a true global patient empowerment group to connect KRAS Knowledge + Research + Advocacy = Survivorship for any KRAS cancer. Starting during Covid pandemic KRAS Kickers connected people online for any cancer types internationally building community, with side-by-side learning. Encouraging education to participate in every part of the equation. KRAS Kickers brings leading doctors, researchers, and advocates to the patient community to learn about new developments and clinical trials.  

As hope is shared, it will be multiplied.  It takes us all to kick cancer's KRAS! 

Luis Corrales, MD is a medical oncologist and Director at the Centro de Investigación y Manejo del Cáncer (CIMCA) in San José, Costa Rica. 

He obtained his medical degree at the Universidad de Costa Rica and completed his Medical Oncology residency program at the same university in 2009. He then pursued a Thoracic Oncology Fellowship at Hôpital Notre-Dame from the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) in Montreal, Canada. 

He returned to Costa Rica joining the faculty at Hospital San Juan de Dios and becoming a pre-graduate and post-graduate professor at the Universidad de Costa Rica. He is the director and leading investigator for Costa Rica of several international clinical trials at CIMCA. 

He is member of the Asociación Costarricense de Oncología Médica (ACOMED), Consorcio Latinoamericano para la Investigación del Cáncer de Pulmón (CLICaP), Oncology Latin America Association (OLA), ASCO, ESMO, and IASLC. 

He has co-authored numerous abstracts and peer-reviewed publications. His interests include translational medicine, molecular biology, targeted therapies, and immune-oncology applied to thoracic, gastrointestinal, and breast oncology among others. 

Edward (Buddy) Cutler is a retired CPA and tax consultant who has been married to his wife, Donna, for 56 years. They have lived in Tampa, Florida, for the past 53 years and have two adult children and three grandchildren, whom he cherishes deeply.

Eleven years ago, Ed was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer without known mutations and has been undergoing various treatments since then, with only a few short breaks. All his treatments have been at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. His treatment journey began almost immediately after his diagnosis with chemotherapy, which stopped being effective after 16 months. At that time, with no other FDA-approved treatments available, he and his oncologist explored several immunotherapy trials. He qualified for a phase 1 trial and received his first immunotherapy infusion in January 2015. Despite being aware of potential side effects, he was taken aback by their severity, leading to a seven-month struggle and a ten-day hospitalization for severe colitis. Following his oncologist's recommendation, he withdrew from the trial and waited four months before being accepted into a second phase 1 immunotherapy trial in January 2016. He continues to receive this treatment with only mild fatigue and no significant side effects and has had no evidence of disease for nearly two and a half years.

Ed's diagnosis spurred him into advocacy almost immediately. Within six months, he was traveling to his state capital with other patients, caregivers, researchers, and providers, advocating for increased funding for their cancer center. He has participated in this effort for nine of the last eleven years, with a hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. It was only after Covid eased up, two years ago, that he began advocating on the national level. He has been to Capitol Hill four times in that period, meeting with his representative, senators, and their aides to discuss funding for cancer research, with a particular focus on lung cancer research.

In addition to his advocacy work, he has participated in reviewing proposed cancer research projects, both related to lung cancer and other cancers, through the 2022 Congressional Directed Lung Cancer Research Program and SCOREboard. The latter is a committee of cancer survivors, caregivers, researchers, and providers associated with the Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG), of which he has been a member since 2021.

Yvonne Diaz is a co-founder and the Chair of Oncogene Cancer Research, a UK-based charity focused on advocacy and funding research for oncogene-driven lung cancers. She’s also a Board Member of ALK Positive Inc and a Member of Lung Cancer Europe. 

Yvonne’s professional background is in communications and social media, and over the past 30 years, she’s lead communications at several global organisations helping to transform strategies into action, strengthen brands and grow reputations. Following her diagnosis of ALK+ lung cancer in August 2021, Yvonne was motivated to use her skills to improve research funding and outcomes for one of the greatest PR challenges globally: lung cancer.  

Yvonne is also a patient representative on CRUK and NIH-funded Cancer Grand Challenge’s Team CANCAN, working to cure cancer cachexia. Yvonne is also a wife and mother of twin teenage sons and a dog, and she lives in London, UK. 

Caleb Egwuenu is a dedicated advocate for cancer research with over 15 years of experience. He is a board member of IKCC (International Kidney Cancer Coalition) and a member of the Patient Advocacy Committee at the IASLC (International Association of the Study of Lung Cancer).  

Caleb has completed the Duke University Accelerating Anticancer Agent Development and Validation workshop, which is a collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration aimed at helping participants understand the drug development approval process for faster delivery of effective cancer treatments to patients. 

In addition, he has successfully finished the AACR Scientist and Survivor Program and the training at Dr. Harold P. Freeman’s Patient Navigation Institute, where he was trained in outreach navigation, diagnostic navigation, treatment navigation, and financial navigation. 

Caleb has also completed the IASLC STARS Program and the STARS Scholar program. He is deeply passionate about driving change in cancer advocacy and research in Africa. This year, he is a featured speaker at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in San Diego, USA. 

Ann Fish-Steagall is an oncology nurse who has been associated with lung cancer for more than 20 years and oncology for almost 40 years. She was a research nurse at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she recognized the need to develop a means where patients could be seen for follow up visits by all their medical disciplines at one time. In 1992 she helped develop the first breast cancer multidisciplinary clinic at UNC.
In 1995 she became the thoracic oncology research nurse and overall nurse coordinator for thoracic malignancies. She started the UNC MTOP program that was considered one of the top thoracic programs in the country. She published articles and book chapters on multidisciplinary care and the need for the nurse navigator role.
In 2009 Ann left UNC to start an oncology nurse navigator program for payers at Biologics Specialty Pharmacy in Cary, NC. She spent the next 11 years at Biologics building programs and care plans to ensure compliance and safety for the patients receiving drugs from Biologics. She led the clinical side for business development and worked closely with the pharmaceutical industry to ensure safe launches of new oncology products. She also worked closely with payers to educate them on the need to reimburse for many off label usages of oncology therapies, especially those driven by oncogenic mutations.
Ann did a short stint in commercial drug launch consulting before joining LUNGevity in October of 2023 as SVP of Patient Services and Healthcare Delivery. In her role at LUNGevity she focuses on awareness, education and implementation of initiatives that will enhance the lives of those touched by lung cancer. Her team develops and delivers direct patient programming as well as working on larger broader lung cancer initiatives.

Dr. Narjust Florez is originally from Venezuela. She completed her internal medicine residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she was the chief fellow from 2018 -2019. 

She is the Associate Director of the Cancer Care Equity Program, a thoracic medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center and a Member of the Faculty at Harvard Medical School. In 2022, Dr. Florez also became the first Latina to hold an Associate Editor position in oncology as the new Associate Editor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the JAMA Oncology Journal.  

Dr. Florez’s clinical interests include targeted therapy for lung cancer and the care of women with lung cancer, including their unique aspects of cancer survivorship. She is the principal investigator of the Sexual Health Assessment in Women with Lung Cancer (SHAWL) Study, the largest study to date evaluating sexual dysfunction in women with lung cancer.  

Apart from her clinical interests in lung cancer, she is also a leading and productive researcher in cancer health disparities, gender and racial discrimination in medical education and medicine. Dr. Florez is one of the co-founders of the Twitter community #LatinasInMedicine, now composed of over 8,500 members globally. She received many awards, including the 2018 Resident of the Year Award by the National Hispanic Medical Association, 2019 the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship award, the 2020 Rising Star award by the LEAD national conference for women in hematology and oncology, and the 2021 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) North America Cancer Care Team Award for outstanding clinical care.  

In addition, Dr. Florez founded the Florez (formerly Duma) Lab in 2019. The laboratory focuses on lung cancer, social justice issues in medicine and medical education. The laboratory long-term goals are to create a welcoming environment for medical trainees from historically underrepresented groups in medicine while improving the care of vulnerable populations. Members of the Florez Lab are agents of change. Since its foundation, the Duma laboratory has received research funding from several national agencies, published over 30 studies and editorials. 

Her work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature, Cancer Cell, JAMA Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, (amongst many others), and featured in various media outlets including The New York Times, STAT News, Healio, Onclive, Vox News, Business Insider, ASCO Post, and Doximity. 

Janet Freeman-Daily is a writer, speaker, and international cancer research advocate who translates the experience and science of cancer for others. She was diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC in 2011, learned about biomarker testing and clinical trials from online patient communities, joined a clinical trial, and has been doing well on a targeted therapy for over 11 years.  She is co-founder and president of The ROS1ders and a co-founder of the IASLC STARS program for training research advocates in lung cancer. She has received the LUNGevity Hero award, coauthored articles in oncology journals, been an invited speaker at national and international cancer conferences, and served on committees and scientific advisory boards for cancer centers, national nonprofits, industry, and government agencies. Formerly an aerospace systems engineer, she holds engineering degrees from MIT (SB) and Caltech (MS, Engineer). Janet blogs at GrayConnections.net. 

Dr. Marina Garassino is currently a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Thoracic Oncology program within the Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology Oncology at The University of Chicago. 

Until February 2021, she was the Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Unit at Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano, Italy. As the Chief, Dr. Garassino lead the strategy for clinical and translational research in advanced and locally advanced NSCLC, SCLC, mesothelioma and thymic malignancies. As a medical oncologist, she has done research in precision medicine and immuno-oncology.  

Dr. Garassino’s main research interests have been mainly the development of new drugs and therapeutical strategies and biomarkers. She has contributed to over 260 peer-reviewed publications, including publications as first or last author in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Oncology. Dr. Garassino has had several presentations at international congresses (ASCO, ESMO, ECCO, WCLC, and, AACR). 

Dr. Garassino’s education includes a medical degree and further specialization in Medical Oncology at the University of Study of Milan (110/110 cum laude) in 1995. She completed her training with an ESMO Clinical fellowship in 2009 at Christie's Hospital in Manchester (UK). Marina has also been a member of EMA SAG (Scientific Advisory Group). 

Most recently, Dr. Garassino served on the 2024 ASCO Faculty Lung Cancer Track, as well as the ESMO Council and Chair of National Societies. She has been an Italian National Representative for 5 years (2011-2017) and is an active member of several ESMO Task forces (Public Policy extended Committee, Press Committee, and Women for Oncology). Dr. Garassino is also the founder and honorary president of Women for Oncology Italy. 

My name is Merel Hennink, wife and mother of 2, was diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC in November 2014. In 2015, after chemo failed me, I started targeted therapy to treat my ROS1+ Lung Cancer  and am still, with great results, on mine 2nd TKI since 2016 .  
I am a Social Economic Historian by training. Until april 2020, I worked as a program manager and a teacher at the University of Applied Science in Groningen. But as advocacy work became more structured I decided to put my time and energy in the service of her family and advocacy  for 100%.  

I love to be active in sports, to walk with my dog, to read and to travel. 

Early 2015, I became active in the Patient Advisory Board of Longkanker Nederland (Dutch Patient Organisation), to be a face and a voice of Lung cancer in the Netherlands. In 2018, I also became an ambassador of Lung cancer Europe (LuCE, an European umbrella organisation of  Lung Cancer Patient Organisations) and I also represent Longkanker Nederland in the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC).  
To get more educated about my own driver mutation, I became active in the Global Initiative of the ROS1ders in 2015. In the Netherlands, I started the foundation Stichting Merels Wereld (www.stichtingmerelswereld.nl) to raise (European) awareness about ROS1, and to get research done. As a result, the Hanze University of Applied Sciences started a research course ´Merels Wereld´ in 2017. And Stichting Merels Wereld, the Hanze University of Applied Science together with the University Hospital Groningen, initiated, created, funded and implemented a ROS1 research program.  With the foundation, we became a member of FT3 (From Testing to Targeted Treatments) 

As a panelist, presenter and reviewer, I try to be the voice of the patients. 

Since 2023, I am a board member of Cancer Patients Europe (CPE) and am Vice Chair of the Patient Advocates Committee of the International Association Study of Lung Cancer. 

As Associate Director of Constituent Engagement, Lauren works with various constituent groups and partners to create and fulfill opportunities for meaningful engagement. She builds and deepens LUNGevity's relationships with hospitals, healthcare providers, advocacy organizations, and community partners to facilitate collaboration and strategic partnerships. 

Before joining LUNGevity, Lauren worked in the higher education, event management, and publishing industries.  

Lauren received her BS in Business Communications from Stevenson University and her MS in Communications Management from Towson University. She completed a Women in Leadership certificate program at Cornell University and an executive education program in Accelerating Innovation in Precision Medicine at Harvard University. 

Kristen (Kris) Kimball was care partner for her husband Dave Kimball, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 EGFR+ lung cancer in 2012.  Thanks to research, Dave was able to live fully for seven more years and continued his innumerable projects, built furniture, enjoyed his family, and met new grandchildren. 

Kris recently retired from the University of Connecticut Department of Physiology and Neurobiology where she taught students planning on entering the health professions. Currently she has is a member of The White Ribbon Project board and a member of the National Lung Cancer Round Table and its Survivorship Task Group, and this year became a Consumer Reviewer for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (Lung Cancer Research Program).  She also volunteers with several projects through Lungevity and is a member of their Caregiver Advisory Group. She is interested in promoting patient-centered research and research advancing early detection of lung cancer.  Finally, Kris is interested in helping to find more ways for fellow members of the lung cancer community, survivors, care partners and their families; to reach out and support each other.   

Bellinda is Senior Director of Patient-Focused Research at LUNGevity Foundation. In her work at LUNGevity she aims to ensure that patient and caregiver voices are incorporated in decision making across a wide variety of stakeholders and has built a Citizen Scientist program to aid this. Prior to joining LUNGevity, she worked at the US Food and Drug Administration Oncology Center of Excellence on the Patient Focused Drug Development team. There, she worked on the development and launch of Project Patient Voice, a resource for patients and caregivers along with their healthcare providers to look at patient-reported symptom data collected from cancer clinical trials.  

Bellinda received her Bachelor of Social Science and Master of Science in applied statistics from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and her PhD in psychometrics from the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

Xiuning Le MD PhD is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.  

Dr. Le is an accomplished clinical investigator and translational research with an expertise in oncogene-driven non-small cell lung cancer. She is leading over 15 trials as key investigators. She has led clinical trials resulted in FDA approval of novel targeted therapy and changed the standard of care. Dr. Le is also active in translational research collaborating with bioinformatics and basic researchers. She has published more than 60 articles in the field of lung cancer, including high-impact journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Oncology and others.   

Dr. Le has received numerous grants and awards, including nationally prestigious awards for clinical investigators, such as ASCO Young Investigator Award (YIA), SU2C-TVF Convergence Program, ASCO Career Development Award (CDA), Paul Calabresi (NIH K12), V Foundation Clinical Investigator Award, and Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award. She serves as a member of Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and advisory panelist for Cancer.Net (ASCO).  

Educational and Training: 

• Clinical fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center- Hematology Oncology 

• Research fellowship: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Cancer Genomics  

• Residency: University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester-Internal Medicine 

• Graduate School: - Harvard Medical School – Ph.D. in Genetics  

• Medical School: Peking Union Medical College – M.D.  

Montessa Lee is a National Board Certified Teacher, Mentor Teacher, and advocate for lung cancer awareness. Montessa obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from East Carolina University, a Master of Science in Special Education from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Education at Regent University.  She found her passion and purpose in educating students with exceptional needs, eventually specializing in working with students diagnosed with autism.   

After being diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 2006, Montessa chronicled her experiences, believing her experience would be a healing testimony for some beyond herself. Through her journey, her memoir He Whispered Life was birthed.  

Through her lung cancer journey, Montessa has found that funding for research in lung cancer is inadequate given that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer. Since her diagnosis, she has pursued efforts to focus on lung cancer awareness and research.  

Lillian is an Australian lawyer with professional experience in social justice and financial dispute resolution, and she lives with a rare form of lung cancer. Currently, she serves as a non-executive director of Cancer Institute NSW and the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia, and an executive member of Cancer Voices NSW. Appointed by the Australian Federal Health Minister, Lillian has also served two terms on the Advisory Council of Cancer Australia, and one term as a member of the Australian Human Ethics Committee. As a person with living experience of cancer, Lillian is a member of several Australian and international patient groups. She is an active patient research advocate and is a mentor of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s Supportive Training for Advocates in Research and Science (IASLC STARS) program. Over the past 15 years, Lillian has served as a consumer advocate on advisory boards of many government and not-for-profit organisations in both the financial services sector and the health sector. 

Brandon Leonard is Senior Director of Government Affairs at LUNGevity Foundation, where he leads the organization’s legislative policy activities and co-manages the LUNGevity Advocacy Network. Prior to coming to LUNGevity, Brandon served as Associate Director of Congressional Relations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), where he led the organization’s outreach to Congress and managed projects including Hill Days, congressional briefings, and special reports. Previously, Brandon served as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Men’s Health Network, leading policy and advocacy activities for the organization. He has also held positions with the Foundation for Sustainable Development and the Office of the Governor of Virginia. Brandon holds an MA in International Development Studies from the George Washington University and a BA in Foreign Affairs and Spanish from the University of Virginia.  

Dr. Benjamin Levy is associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and clinical director of The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC. 

Prior to his Hopkins appointment, Dr. Levy was medical director of Thoracic Oncology Program for Mount Sinai Health Systems in New York City and associate director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office (CCTO). 

Dr. Levy is a physician-scientist who is currently leading immunotherapy trials evaluating checkpoint inhibitors with novel combination strategies, as well as targeted therapy trials. Dr. Levy has played an integral role on several American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) committees and currently serves as associate editor for the ASCO University Committee as well as editor-in-chief for the ASCO Self-Evaluation Program (ASCO-SEP®). 

He recently completed two terms on the editorial board for the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and currently serves as senior associate editor for Clinical Lung Cancer. He is an ad hoc reviewer for The Oncologist, Oncotarget, and Clinical Cancer Research (CCR). 

He was recently selected as one of only 15 oncologists in the country to join the prestigious ASCO Leadership Development Program, whose mission is to identify and develop future leaders of ASCO. In addition to his ASCO commitments, Dr. Levy serves on the ALLIANCE Respiratory Committee, the IASLC Staging Committee, and the IASLC Career Development & Fellowship Committee. 

Dr. Jessica Lin is a medical oncologist in the Thoracic Oncology Program and the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at the Mass General Cancer Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The primary focus of Dr Lin’s research is to develop novel therapeutic and biomarker strategies for patients with advanced lung cancers. As a clinical investigator, she is deeply involved in the design and conduct of clinical trials evaluating novel targeted therapies as well as combination regimens. Her translational research efforts are dedicated to the study of resistance mechanisms and exceptional responses to targeted therapies in molecularly defined subsets of lung cancer such as those harboring ALK, ROS1, and RET gene fusions. The ultimate goal of her research is to improve outcomes for patients living with lung cancer. 

Dr. Stephen V. Liu, MD, is a thoracic medical oncologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University. He is the Director of Thoracic Oncology and the Head of Developmental Therapeutics at the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC. Dr. Liu received his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, his medical degree from the University of Maryland, and his Internal Medicine training at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a fellowship in Hematology & Oncology at the University of Southern California and joined the faculty of Georgetown University in 2013. His academic focus is on lung cancer and drug development. He is also the co-host of the official IASLC podcast, Lung Cancer Considered. 

Dr. Herbert H. Loong holds conjoint appointments of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Oncology and Deputy Medical Director of the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Centre of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  

Dr. Loong obtained his medical degree with a Distinction in Surgery from The University of Hong Kong in 2003. He has completed a Fellowship in Drug Development at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada with a focus on Experimental Therapeutics. His clinical and research interests include Thoracic Oncology, Sarcoma Medical Oncology and Health Economics. 

Dr. Loong is a recipient of the European Cancer Congress Fellowship Grant (2013), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting Merit Award (2014), the Hong Kong College of Physicians Young Investigators’ Award (2014). Dr. Loong led the Lung Cancer Team at CUHK to be bestowed the IASLC Foundation Cancer Care Team Award in recognition for providing the best thoracic oncology care in “Asia & Rest of the World” in 2018. 

In recent years, Dr. Loong has co-founded the Asia Pacific Oncology Drug Development Consortium (APODDC) and the Asia Pacific Coalition Against Lung Cancer (APCLC).  

Dr. Loong has served or continues to serve in various capacities in various professional international oncology bodies, including the International Affairs Committee and the Asia-Pacific Regional Council of ASCO, the Membership, Education and Communications Committees of the IASLC. He is the incoming Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of ASCO in 2024. He has been elected as a Board Member of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) for 2022-2024. In his prior appointment as a member of Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong, he oversaw the registration of medicinal products and clinical trials in the territory. 

Aurora hails from the land of 7,000 islands, the Philippines. Having left her country at the age of 9 and becoming a part of the Filipino diaspora, Aurora continues to see the world from a global perspective. She is fluent in Tagalog, English, and is learning Spanish. Aurora was diagnosed with Non Small Cell Lung cancer at the age of 28, during her 2nd year of her EdD in Leadership program. She is now 31 years old, and in her final stretch of her EdD program- the dissertation phase. Rooted in the firm belief that individuals must continuously acknowledge the current systems in place in order to reimagine a more just society, Aurora is fiercely committed to patient advocacy that is centered on serving BIPOC patients, and their communities. During her free time, she loves looking for coffee shops, journaling, taking photos and videos, as well as learning new languages.  

Dr. Rami Manochakian is an associate professor of Medicine, thoracic oncologist consultant at Mayo Clinic, Florida. He is the vice chair for education at the division of Hematology/Oncology and the program director for the Hematology/Oncology fellowship training program.

Dr. Manochakian earned his medical degree from the University of Aleppo in Syria. He completed Internal Medicine residency and chief residency at the University at Buffalo, New York. He completed Hematology/Oncology fellowship and was a chief fellow at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Manochakian has specialized and developed an expertise in treating patients with thoracic malignancies including lung cancer, mesothelioma and thymic tumors. 

Dr. Manochakian is very actively involved in clinical research to help advance the oncology field. He has helped develop and run several cancer clinical trials. He authored or co-authors multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts, and presented at several national and international scientific meetings.

Dr. Manochakian is a passionate educator and is considered a leader in medical education. He participates in and leads many educational activities at Mayo Clinic, and serves in education and leadership roles on national and international medical societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). He is currently the co-chair of the IASLC academy.
 

Dr. Drew Moghanaki is Professor and Chief of Thoracic Oncology in the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology and co-director of the VA Greater Los Angeles Lung Precision Oncology Program. He leads clinical research and implementation initiatives in the VA and University of California Lung Cancer Consortium. He is a member, advisor, and chair of multiple committees for national organizations that includes the American Cancer Society, American Society of Radiation Oncology, GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and the LUNGevity Foundation.  

Timothy Mullett, MD, MBA, FACS, is a professor of surgery at the University of Kentucky. He has experience in cardiac surgery and transplantation, and his clinical practice and research focuses on lung cancer in Kentucky. 

Currently, Dr. Mullett is the medical director of the Markey Cancer Center (MCC) 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 MCC Research Network, a collaborative network of sites that conducts a portfolio of high priority trials. 

Prof. Jarushka Naidoo, MB BCH MHS is a Full Professor of Medical Oncology and Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre in Dublin, Ireland and Adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University. She is a clinical trialist and translational researcher with a research interest in non-small cell lung cancer, immunotherapy and immunotherapy-related toxicity. During her time in the USA, Prof Naidoo developed the first institution-wide immunotherapy toxicity multidisciplinary team at Johns Hopkins, and has been a leader in the field of drug toxicity for patients with thoracic malignancies, and specifically immunotherapy. She has authored >100 peer-reviewed papers in thoracic cancer and immune-related toxicity, and led the development of the ASCO, NCCN and SITC immunotherapy toxicity guidelines and drug toxicity taskforces. 

Since returning to the Republic of Ireland in 2020, she serves as the Chair of the Lung Cancer Disease-specific subgroup (DSSG) of Cancer Trials Ireland, during which time the clinical trial portfolio for patients with thoracic malignancies has tripled. She also founded and chairs the national lung cancer translational research group called the ‘Irish Lung Cancer Alliance,’ and formed the Irish immunotherapy toxicity network. Prof Naidoo is an active member of ETOP, EORTC, ECOG-ACRIN and NRG clinical trial cooperative groups, and serves on the scientific committees for both ESMO (thoracic cancers), ASCO (immunotherapy) and IASLC (International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer). She is the current chair of the IASLC Communications Committee, and incoming conference chair for IASLC WCLC 2025. She is a prior winner of the IASLC/LCFA Young Investigator Award (2020), and the Irish Cancer Society’s Clinician Research Leader, 2022-2024.  

Coral Olazagasti, MD is an assistant professor at the Sylvester Cancer Center, University of Miami at Miami, Florida. Dr. Olazagasti earned her medical degree from the Universidad Central del Caribe from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She relocated to New York City to pursue an Internal Medicine residency at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. After completing her medical residency training, Dr. Coral Olazagasti worked as an academic hospitalist for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Boston, MA before pursuing a Hematology-Oncology training at Northwell Health in New York. She is currently a medical oncologist at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center with a focus on head and neck and thoracic malignancies.
 
Dr. Olazagasti is a passionate advocate of early detection and lung cancer screening. Additionally, as a Latina oncologist, Dr. Olazagasti is personally invested in the study of disparities in cancer care in racial and ethnic minorities. She has drawn on her own experiences to highlight the inequities and barriers that minority patients face in healthcare. Dr. Olazagasti combines both interests, and she focuses lung cancer screening in racial and ethnic minorities, especially the Hispanic population. She hopes to continue to expand her research passions and help promote early detection and close the gap for minorities and vulnerable populations.
 

Taofeek K. Owonikoko, MD, PhD, is the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Distinguished Professor in Oncology and the Executive Director of the University of Maryland’s NCIdesignated Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also holds the role of Senior Associate Dean of Cancer Programs at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine and the Associate Vice President of Cancer Programs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. A translational physicianscientist, board-certified in Medical Oncology, Hematology, and Internal Medicine, he has a clinical focus on the management of patients with lung cancer. His research interests span the spectrum of preclinical experimental therapeutics, biomarker discovery, and translation of promising laboratory findings into lung cancer clinical trials. He is currently an elected member of the Board of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Treasurer-Elect of ASCO. He recently was invited to join the Lung Cancer Research Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. He serves as an Editorial Board Member for several highly regarded academic journals including Cancer, Journal of Thoracic Disease, and Translational Lung Cancer Research. Dr. Owonikoko is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Society for Hematology, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Lastly, he has been an NIH Study Section Member for the past eleven years and is a chartered member for the NIH Clinical Oncology Study section. Dr. Owonikoko has authored/co-authored more than 250+ peer-reviewed original manuscripts including reports of original research in leading journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Cell, Science, Nature, JCO, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Discovery, and Cancer Cell. His work has been broadly cited with more than >54,800 citations and an h-index of 89. He has received peer-reviewed extramural grant funding in support of his research from the US National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, private foundations, and pharmaceutical partners.

Jyoti Patel, MD, is Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University and Associate Vice-Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine. She is also Medical Director of Thoracic Oncology and Assistant Director for Clinical Research in the Lurie Cancer Center. Dr. Patel is a leader in thoracic oncology, focusing her efforts in the development and evaluation of novel molecular markers and therapeutics in patients battling non-small cell lung cancer. She has numerous publications and has lead multiple lung cancer trials, from phase I to III. Dr. Patel is recognized for her expertise in new drug development as well as being an outstanding clinician, educator, and mentor. 

Tejas Patil is a thoracic oncologist with an interest in identifying novel biomarkers in thoracic malignancies and in the development of targeted therapies for lung cancer. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania followed by medical school at the University of Southern California. He did his internship, residency, and hematology / oncology fellowship at the University of Colorado. His clinical and research interests include: (1) molecular diagnostics in lung cancer, (2) managing acquired resistance to targeted therapies (such as ALK, EGFR, ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors), and (3) developing rational combinations of therapies based on evolutionary and molecular biology. He has received multiple grants and awards including the IASLC John Fisher Legacy Young Investigator Award (2019), Hamoui Foundation/LUNGevity Clinical Research Award (2021), Cancer League of Colorado Research Award (2022), the Gilead Research Scholars Award (2023), and the Rising Star Award from CU Department of Medicine (2024). He is also interested in novel clinical trials that address unmet needs among our patients with lung cancer and has written several investigator-initiated trials. He is a member of both the SWOG Lung Steering Committee and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for thoracic malignancies. Tejas Patil believes that there is no "one-size fits all" approach in medicine, especially with cancer therapy. 

Solange Peters MD, PhD, is a full professor, and chair of medical oncology and the thoracic malignancies program in the Department of Oncology at the University Hospital of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. She received both her doctorate in medicine and PhD from the University Hospital of Lausanne. After completing her clinical education in medical oncology and molecular biology in Switzerland and Italy, Prof. Peters specialized in thoracic tumors, lung cancer, and pleural tumors.

Prof. Peters is currently in charge of teaching and patient care in thoracic malignancies at Lausanne University, where she is building a translational programme in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Ludwig Institute. Her main fields of interest are new biomarker discovery and validation in preclinical and clinical settings, multimodality strategies for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as cancer immunotherapy. Her current research projects are mainly focused on innovative immunotherapy combinations and new immunomodulating treatments across thoracic malignancies. She acts as the local principal investigator (PI) for lung trials opened at Lausanne Cancer Centre and is a co-PI of several other trials. Additionally, she acts as the scientific committee chair and Foundation Council member of the European Thoracic Oncology Platform. She was recently nominated as the Strategic Advisory Board President of the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster and is part of the Board of Directors of the Swiss National Cancer League.

Prof. Peters has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, acts as Associate Editor of the Annals of Oncology, Deputy Editor of Lung Cancer, and serves on the editorial board of several other oncology journals. She was the deputy editor of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology for 10 years. Prof. Peters is active in the educational programmes of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), where she created the Women for Oncology Committee and for which she was the youngest President ever for an extended time of 3 years 2020-2022, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), where she was a member of the Board of Directors.

Professor Sanjay Popat is a Consultant Thoracic Medical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden
Hospital and Professor of Thoracic Oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research.
His research interests include the development of novel drug strategies for the treatment of
thoracic cancers through clinical trials, the identification of DNA variants that influence thoracic
cancer development and their impact on clinical behaviour, as well as the identification of
biomarkers predictive of therapeutic effect.
He is co-director for the NIHR London South Clinical Research Network (CRN) Cancer Division
and Chair of Cancer for the West London Genomic Medicine Centre. He Chairs the British
Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG), and is immediate past Chair of the UK NCRI Lung Cancer
Clinical Studies Group (CSG) Advanced Disease Sub-group. He is active in the European
Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment
of Cancer (EORTC) Lung Group.

Angus was diagnosed with male breast cancer in May 2018. In the workup for treatment, primary lung cancer was discovered. It was at Stage IIIc and took precedence with aggressive chemo/radiation initial treatment. This was followed by durvalumab immunotherapy until after nine months progression was observed. In the meantime Angus had a bilateral mastectomy for his Stage I breast cancer. Angus was determined to be EGFR+ and was placed on targeted therapy with afatinib. He recently transitioned to osimertinib on minor tumour progression. When that failed in March of 2024, he began chemotherapy.

He has participated in STARS, Learning Institute, Canadian Cancer Research Conference Patient Partner Program, and AACR Survivor -> Scientist. He sits on Canadian Cancer Society Advisory Council on Research and the Canadian Medical Association Patient Voice. 

When Angus isn't advocating for lung cancer, he likes to paint with watercolour and write poetry.

Working with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation gave her exposure to non-profit work. A partnership with the Children’s Fund and Foundation followed, and in 2005 she was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Breast Health Foundation. Her combination of business skills and non-profit experience led to the establishment of Prime Consulting, which assists non-profits develop sustainable and effective strategies, structures and processes.

Lauren has put her experience and knowledge to work building accredited course modules to assist non-profits; recently, under her guidance, Campaigning for Cancer has created the Patient Advocacy Incubator equipping patient advocacy organisations with professional and relevant skills.

Lauren represents Campaigning for Cancer on multiple local and international coalitions, such as the Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi); the South African Health Technologies and Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC); the Lymphoma Coalition and the Worlrd Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition, of which she is a director of both; and the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC).

Lauren has been invited to play a number of roles at national and international level. As just one example, she heads the Patient User Network, a network of 118 health-related patient groups. She is a signatory to the Presidential Health Compact.

Lauren has co-authored a number of academic papers and is in demand locally and internationally as a speaker on both cancer and patient advocacy. She’s boosting her own skills currently via a Health Technology Assessment course at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide.

Lauren Pretorius is CEO of Campaigning for Cancer, a patient advocacy organisation which she co-founded in 2008 to work for the promotion and protection of the rights of patients and those affected by cancer.

Suresh S. Ramalingam is the Executive Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He serves as Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Roberto C. Goizueta Chair for Cancer Research at the Emory University School of Medicine.  

Dr. Ramalingam’s research is focused on the development of novel treatment approaches for patients with lung cancer. Specifically, his group has developed novel treatment options for lung cancer patients harboring an EGFR mutation, resulting in FDA approval of third generation inhibitors for metastatic NSCLC. He also leads clinical and translational investigations of novel immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of lung cancer. He has published more than 400 peer reviewed publications, with over 36,000 citations and a H-index of 80. His research has been published in leading journals including the NEJM, Lancet, Science, Nature, PNAS, JCI, JCO and JTO. He serves as the principal investigator for the Emory University Lung Cancer SPORE award from the NCI. 

Dr. Ramalingam serves as Deputy Chair for Therapeutics Programs at ECOG-ACRIN, and is a former chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Malignancies Committee. He is the Editor-in-chief for ‘Cancer’ journal (American Cancer Society). Dr. Ramalingam is the recipient of several awards, including the James R. Eckman Award for Excellence at Emory University, and the Distinguished Cancer Scholar Award, Georgia Cancer Coalition. In addition, he is a recipient of the ASCO Career Development Award (2006–2009), the ECOG Young Investigator Award (2013), and the NCI ‘Clinical Investigators Team Leadership Award’ (2010-12). Dr. Ramalingam served as a member of the board of directors for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) (2017-21) and as a member of the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee (2012-2021). He is past president of the Georgia Society of Oncology and a former member of the Emory Healthcare board of directors. 

Christian Rolfo, MD, PhD, MBA, Dr.hc. is the newly appointed director of the Division of Medical Oncology at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Associate Director of the Cancer Center for Early Phase Clinical Trials. Dr. Rolfo is also Professor of Medicine at Ohio State University. 

Dr. Rolfo’s clinical and research focus is on drug development, lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, biomarkers, resistant mechanisms discovery, and liquid biopsies. Dr. Rolfo has held academic appointments at numerous institutions, including the University of Cordoba, Argentina; University of Antwerp, Belgium; University of Palermo, Italy; University of Maryland- Greenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. He most recently served as Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) and Associate Director for Clinical Research-Center for Thoracic Oncology at the Tisch Cancer Institute; Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System; New York. Dr. Rolfo earned his MD at the University of Cordoba School of Medicine, his PhD and Doctor Europaeus in Clinical and Experimental Oncology Research at University of Palermo, Italy, and an MBA in Hospital and Health Services Management and Organization at Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. He completed residency training in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Milan (University of Milan, Italy). 

Dr. Rolfo is President of the International Society of Liquid Biopsy (ISLB) and Past Chair of the Education Committee at the International Association for Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Dr. Rolfo served as member of the Drug Approval & First in Human Commission at the Ministry of Health in Belgium during his time as Phase I Director at Antwerp University. 

Dr. Rolfo is actively working on drug development and lung cancer and mesothelioma treatment. His research is focused in molecular oncology, targeted therapies and Immunotherapy in thoracic oncology using new techniques in liquid biopsies, specifically in extracellular vesicles and circulating free tumor DNA. His research group identified ALK translocation in exosomes in NSCLC patients, and showed, for the first time, the videos of labeled EVs uptake by living lung cancer cells. He is currently working on the identification of new biomarkers involved in immunotherapy and TKI drug-resistance and early detection of lung cancer with liquid biopsy. Dr. Rolfo has contributed to the development of several compounds including Erlotinib, and the pharmacokinetics of Olaparib, Entrectinib, Selpercatinib, Trastuzumab Duocarmazine, among others. 

Dr. Rolfo has authored more than 350 scientific articles, has made several contributions to book chapters, and has served as a book editor. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Nature Clinical Reviews in Oncology, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Nature Nanotechnology, Clinical Cancer Research, Annals of Oncology, and Lung Cancer among others. Dr. Rolfo is Editor in Chief of Critical Review in Oncology Hematology.

I was diagnosed with stage 3B NSCLC on November 20, 2014 at the age of 46 and this began my long journey with lung cancer. Six weeks after my diagnosis I was told I was ALK Positive. I started with chemo and radiation, then Crizotinib in April of 2015 and it was going great until a small spot appeared in my liver. I was then switched to Ceritinib in July of 2015, and I was switched to Ceritinib. Unfortunately, after 4 years being “no evidence of disease” in November of 2019 they saw 2 small “foci” spots in my brain and in November of 2020 another popped up, but I remain stable. It wasn’t until February of 2022 I was told there were some changes in my brain mets and I was switched to Alectinib and been on Alectinib since.  

I am a wife to my wonderful husband Steve, mother of 5 amazing children, grandmother to two beautiful grandchildren Leyana and Artemis. I’m a mommy to my dog Kemo and my cat Kitty and Salem. I’m a former owner of a crossfit gym and I do keep up with exercising. I love to travel so I became an Independent Travel Agent. I am living life and enjoying it every minute. 

This year I will be celebrating my 10-year cancerversay and I’m taking two trips. First one is to Italy and the second one I’m using my timeshare and going to Cancun (never been there believe it or not.) Because of lung cancer research I’m living longer and experiencing many wonderful milestones that I thought I would never experience.  

Dr. Misty Dawn Shields is a thoracic medical oncologist, assistant professor of clinical medicine, and associate member of experimental and developmental therapeutics at Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health Physicians. The fight against lung cancer is personal. She lost her father to small cell lung cancer when she was 15 years old. After losing her father, she sought to better understand every piece of bench-to-bedside precision medicine for lung cancer. Dr. Shields trained with world-renowned translational oncologist Dr. John Minna, where her graduate studies helped to identify predictive biomarkers to pemetrexed in non-small cell lung cancer. In collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Melanie Cobb, she contributed to the discovery of NeuroD1 as a neuroendocrine subtype in small cell lung cancer. To serve at the bedside and care for patients experiencing similar afflictions to her father, Dr. Shields steadfastly pursued her medical training at UT Houston, including rotations at MD Anderson Cancer Center, internal medicine residency at Vanderbilt University, hematology/oncology fellowship at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center as chief fellow, and the FDA-AACR Oncology Educational fellowship. She joined faculty at Indiana University in August 2022 as a physician scientist with a focus in early phase trials, longitudinal liquid biopsies, and translational studies for novel therapeutics in acquired chemo-resistant SCLC as principal investigator of the Shields lab. Dr. Shields serves on the guideline panel for SCLC with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, local leadership board for American Lung Association, and as the clinical trials advocate for IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center’s End Lung Cancer Now. 

Dr. Navneet Singh MD DM is a thoracic medical oncologist, tenured (full) Professor of Pulmonary 
Medicine and faculty-in-charge of the Lung Cancer Clinic at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education 
and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. His primary area of clinical expertise & research is thoracic 
oncology especially targeted therapies and immunotherapy for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer 
(NSCLC). Prof. Singh is the coordinator-cum-convener for PGIMER’s multidisciplinary thoracic 
oncology group that received the Lung Cancer Care Team Award of the International Association for 
Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) at its 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Barcelona, 
Spain. He was recently conferred the IASLC Clifton Mountain Lectureship Award for staging at 2023 
WCLC at Singapore.

Dr. Singh has been elected fellow of Royal College of Physicians (London), American College of 
Physicians (FACP), American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP) and Indian Chest Society. He has served as 
a reviewer for several international journals including New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet group.
He has 200+ publications in peer reviewed medical journals, authored several chapters in books and is an invited faculty and program committee member for IASLC’s annual WCLC. He is /has been member of IASLC’s Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee; Education-; Membership- and Publications- Committees as well.

Currently, he co-chairs the IASLC Partners for Thoracic Cancer Care initiative. A past recipient of the International Development & Education Award (IDEA) of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Prof. Singh served as Chair of ASCO's IDEA steering group (2018-20) and Co-Chair of ASCO’s expert panels responsible for ‘living’ guideline on systemic therapy for stage IV NSCLC and management of stage III NSCLC.

Previously, he has been an invited member of ASCO's special awards selection committee and thoracic cancer guideline group including expert panels that developed clinical practice guidelines on A) Molecular Biomarker Testing in advanced/metastatic NSCLC; B) Surveillance after curative-intent treatment of lung cancer; C) Systemic therapy for stage-IV NSCLC; D) Management of stage III NSCLC (co-chair) all being published in ASCO’s flagship Journal of Clinical Oncology. In 2023, he became one of the few select oncologists from the Asia-Pacific region to be conferred lifetime Fellow of ASCO (FASCO) distinction and is among the 1st two from this region to have received both the IDEA and FASCO.

Dr. Singh has been a recipient of several awards and honors for his contribution in the area of lung cancer 
including American Association of Cancer Research-National Cancer Institute (AACR-NCI) International 
Investigator Opportunity Grant (2009); European Society for Medical Oncology's (ESMO)’s Translational 
Research Unit Visit (2010) and Palliative Care (2012-13) Fellowships; Kamal Satbir Award of the Indian Council 
for Medical Research (ICMR; 2014) and ISSLC’s Oration on Lung Cancer (2017) in addition to travel grants for 
several international meetings.

Kirk Smith, was diagnosed with stage 4 ALK Positive lung cancer on December 26, 2013. 

He currently serves as president of ALK Positive, Inc., a patient-driven nonprofit organization, and on the board of directors of two local nonprofits, the Cancer Foundation of Northeast Georgia and the Athens Area Community Foundation.  

He has been honored with both the PPD Hero award (from PPD, a division of Thermo Fisher Scientific) when he raced Ironman 70.3 North Carolina, as well as the Hero of Hope award from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) for his work raising money for lung cancer research as well as advocating for the importance of clinical trials. He has also served on patient advocacy committees for Pfizer and Novartis.  

He and his wife Jayne, live in Athens, GA. 

In his role, Dr. Subbiah oversees SCRI’s nine drug development units and leads the expansion of early-phase capabilities and programs across the organization's growing research network of more than 1,300 physicians at more than 250 locations in 24 states. 

Previously, Dr. Subbiah held several leadership roles in his 15-year tenure at MD Anderson Cancer Center including Executive director, Medical Oncology Research, MD Anderson Cancer Network as well as Clinical Medical Director, Clinical Center for Targeted Therapy, Division of Cancer Medicine where he oversaw both the outpatient and inpatient clinical care delivery operations for the Phase I program. He served as the Principal Investigator in over 100 Phase I/II trials- and co-PI in over 200 trials. His research interests are patient centric drug development in rare cancers, precision oncology and basket trials. He has led several first-in-human and practice changing clinical trials that have led to US FDA approval, EMA approval and approval in multiple geographies eg. Dabrafenib+ trametinib for anaplastic thyroid cancer, vemurafenib for  erdheim-chester disease, lurbinectedin for small cell lung cancer, selpercatinib and pralsetinib for RET positive non-small cell lung cancer and RET positive thyroid cancer in addition to tissue agnostic approvals for RET + cancer and BRAF+ cancers.  He has published over 350 peer-reviewed in several prestigious journals such as Nature Medicine, The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Lancet Oncology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology and Clinical Cancer Research.   
 
He has an exceptional track record of effectively bringing together multidisciplinary clinical trials teams, early career physician investigators, and physicians in training, all with the shared commitment to bringing novel therapies to patients with cancer. Having trained in both pediatric hematology & oncology as well as adult medical oncology, Dr. Subbiah is uniquely positioned to bring cutting-edge therapeutics across the age continuum from adolescent/young adults (AYAs) to older adults with cancer. He has won numerous awards including Emil Frei III award for Excellence in Translational Research and 2021 Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship. He is the section editor and social media editor for American Cancer Society Journal, Cancer. He is a member of the ESMO Translational Research and Precision Medicine Working Group and in the Annals of Oncology Editorial Board.