Conference Interviews

Dr. Ray Osarogiagbon is a thoracic medical oncologist and Chief Scientist at the Baptist Memorial Healthcare Center. He highlights the promise and value of pulmonary nodule clinics in diagnosing early lung cancer and as complementary to lung cancer screening programs. A key highlight is that for every lung cancer found in the lung cancer screening program, 5 to 7 lung cancers are found in the incidental pulmonary nodule program.

Dan Raz, MD is a thoracic surgeon and Professor of Surgery at City of Hope where he is co-leader of the Lung Cancer Program, and director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program. Dr. Raz talks about the pros and cons of having an acceptable benign resection rate for pulmonary nodules in a CT lung screening program. There is currently a large variation in benign resection rates. To minimize the number of invasive procedures guidelines should be followed, should do less invasive biopsies before surgery whenever possible, and don’t do lobectomies without a diagnosis. It’s important not to miss a lung cancer and we should be mindful of patient preferences when a diagnosis is not definitive. A good goal is less than 5% benign resections.

Dr. Maron is a preventive cardiologist and the C.F. Rehnborg Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University. He is president-elect of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. Dr. Maron talks about the not yet funded NOTIFY trial. The trial identifies patients that have had a CT lung screening scan, who do not have identified atherosclerotic disease and are not on lipid lowering therapy but whose CT lung screening scan shows coronary artery calcium. The patients and their clinician will be notified about the presence of coronary artery calcium including an image of the coronary calcium. This intervention will be compared to control arm with clinical reminder to clinicians to assess patient risk for coronary disease. The primary outcome is all cause mortality. Secondary outcomes include increased uptake of lipid lowering therapies.

Randi M. Williams, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program within the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Williams discusses the risk of lung cancer in people with HIV. People with HIV are at increased risk even when higher smoking rates are considered, they are diagnosed at a younger age and have worse outcomes. Dr. Williams discussed her small study looking at using the PLCOm2012 risk prediction model to help identify individuals with HIV who are at high risk. She is looking for collaborators with HIV populations to help validate the model.

Dr. David Baldwin is a consultant respiratory physician at Nottingham University Hospital in the UK. Dr. Baldwin reflects about the 2024 conference, conference highlights and action points and discusses who should attend in 2025 and why.

Jamie Bell is a thoracic oncology Nurse Practitioner at New York University. She discusses the importance of getting the word out about lung cancer screening and the impact of patient and family stories.

Dr. Elaine Shum is an Assistant Professor and thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center. She talks about her experience at the 2024 Rescue Lung Society conference.