Backstage @ Upstage

HOST:   Hildy Grossman CO-HOST:   Jordan Rich GUESTS: Kyle Concannon, MD, Samantha Murrell, Bianca Bye and Leah Phillips The face of lung cancer is changing. No longer viewed simply as a “smoker’s disease” that only impacts older adults, there is a rising and concerning trend of younger adults and non-smokers being diagnosed with advanced disease.   Our guests today have so much...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Lecia Sequist, MD and Allison Chang, MD, Ph. D. We are building on our previous "All in the Family" episode, with Jaclyn Lo Piccolo, MD, Ph. D., Pasi Janne, MD, Ph. D., of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Jill Feldman from EGFR Resisters. To look deeper into how a family history of lung cancer might increase the risk for othe...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST, Jordan Rich Guests: Sachi Badola and Lauren Coye Think you’re too young for lung cancer? Think again! This week, we’re joined by two incredible young women who are highlighting the realities and breaking the stigma. Our first guest, Lauren Coye, shares her grueling journey to finally being diagnosed with lung cancer.  After being told she had recurring upper res...

HOST:  Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Sumati Ram-Mohan, Vice President of Upstage Lung Cancer Why did singer and cabaret performer Hildy Grossman launch Upstage Lung Cancer 18 years ago? In this episode, Hildy describes how a fluke accident resulted in early detection of her lung cancer and put her on a life-changing path. When faced with an early diagnosis, Hildy didn’t just ask &amp...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST, Jordan Rich Guests: Justin Gainor, MD, Director of Targeted Immunotherapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital and David Barbie, MD, Director of the Barbie Lab at Dana Farber Cancer Institute Targeting Innate Immunity in Cancer Lung cancer has long been one of the most complex and difficult cancers to treat. But what if we could outsmart it—not just with surgery, che...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Jessica Lin, MD., Sarah Craig, Frank Marotta Hearing the diagnosis of Stage 4 can be devastating, but today, it is no longer the final word. More people are living with Stage 4 lung cancer than ever before, thanks to a revolution in innovative treatments, immunotherapy and precision medicine. Join us for a profoundly moving and informative episode...

How a silent killer invades our homes and our genes HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Jackie Nixon, Citizens for Radon Reduction; Jane Malone, National Policy Director Indoor Environments Association; Khadijah Mitchell, Ph. D., Temple University, School of Public Health Your DNA is not a fixed blueprint. Dr. Khadijah Mitchell elucidates epigenetics, showing that our environment an...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Chi Fu Jeffrey Yang. MD, Thoracic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School For any cancer patient facing surgery, there are always questions and worries. Hildy interviews an outstanding thoracic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, Chi Fu Jeffrey yang, MD. They discuss the current trends in lun...

From Lung Cancer Patient to Full Time Advocate HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Dusty Donaldson, Lung Cancer Patient Advocate, LiveLung Founder At fifty-one, Dusty’s life was a whirlwind. A mother of three, she was also juggling a full-time career and graduate school when a lung cancer diagnosis stopped everything in its tracks. Her treatment included the surgical removal of...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Jacy Dawn Valeras, Award-winning Television Host, Producer, Podcaster and Music Business Executive Hildy welcomes Jacy Dawn Valeras—television host, producer, music business executive, and podcaster with over 25 years of experience in the industry. Jacy shares her life-long dream of becoming a country music singer. With her father’s encouragement,...

Voicing New Reasons for Optimism HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Maida Mangiameli, Dusty Donaldson, Misty Shields, MD, Ph. D., and Ann Steagall Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive form of lung cancer with a 5-year survival rate of just 7%, a disheartening statistic. Despite this, survivors, researchers, and the medical community are actively working to create a m...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Jaclyn LoPiccolo, MD, Ph. D., Pasi Janne, MD, Ph. D., Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Jill Feldman, EGFR Resisters Hildy opens with a powerful anecdote about an early Upstage Lung Cancer Board member whose mother, grandmother, and aunt all had lung cancer. She endured months of allergy and antibiotic treatments for a persistent cough, only for a...

A Biomarker Dialogue Between Patient and Scientist HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Marc Muskavitch, PhD, ALK+ & Zachary Rogers, PhD, Research Fellow, Koch Institute at MIT This episode features a powerful conversation between two scientists, one now navigating life as a Stage 4 ALK+ lung cancer patient. Most lung cancer patients only learn the significance of biomarkers like...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Zachary Rogers, Ph. D. Postdoc at MIT | American Cancer Society Fellow Lung cancer treatment is undergoing a revolution. In the last 15 years, we’ve transitioned from broad chemotherapy to precision medicine, targeting the specific genetic drivers of each patient’s cancer. This shift, along with the rise of immunotherapy, offers unprece...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: James Hiter, Streak for A Cure James and Hildy had a similar experience in having their lung cancer found by accident. James, a “streaker” who runs daily, epitomized health. So, a lung cancer diagnosis—discovered accidentally during a bout of the flu—came as a devastating shock. A routine X-ray revealed a tumor of the size of a tennis ball. This un...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Zofia Piotrowska, MD, MHS, Massachusetts General Hospital This podcast delves deeper into the evolving understanding of the HER2 biomarker in lung cancer, twenty years after its discovery. We’re joined by Dr. Zofia Piotrowska, renowned oncologist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, to build on our previous discussion, “HER2 Isn’...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: TERRI CONNERAN, Founder of KRAS Kickers Imagine facing five recurrences of cancer in seven years. Terri Conneran did, and she turned her adversity into a powerful force for change. Terri embodies the strength of the will to defy the odds of a cancer diagnosis and emerges as a beacon of hope for lung cancer patients. Despite multiple recurrences and...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Carl Gay, MD, MD Anderson, Misty Shields, MD, Ph. D., Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Hildy shares her experience of losing a friend who was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal system. Knowing that neuroendocrine cells are present in the lungs prompted Hildy to wonder if lung cancer drugs would possib...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Jaime Cheah, Ph. D., Director of Collaborative Screening in the Center for the Development of Therapeutics at the Broad Institute and Jane Wilkinson, co-founder and president of CANCollaborate Our guests, Jane Wilkinson and Jaime Cheah join the conversation to tell us about some incredible work to expand the use of a drug beyond its original treat...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Geoff Oxnard, MD, VP Clinical Development, Global Head Thoracic Cancer | Thoracic Oncologist, Boston Medical Center With so many misunderstandings about clinical trials, this podcast aims to clarify what a clinical trial is, how they have changed over time, why it is important to inform patients about them and how to increase access. With only abo...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: David Barbie, MD and Elliott Brea MD, Ph. D. As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” That said, our guests on this podcast share groundbreaking research that investigates new ways of using one’s own immune system to fight cancer. Understanding how immunotherapy works is a complicat...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Francine Jacobson, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston The process of being diagnosed and treated for lung cancer is often an arduous one. Hildy discusses her own winding road – how slipping on the stairs while wearing new shoes ultimately led to diagnosis and successful treatment. The accidental discovery of her tumor highlights th...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Jacob Sands, MD and Julia Rotow, MD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute Do you worry about cancer? Do you, or does someone you love, have cancer? Our guests today explore the often-worrisome journey from screening and diagnosis to treatment. This podcast features a thoughtful conversation among oncologists who share various options for diagnosis and trea...

HOST: Hildy Grossman CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Cheryl Davis, of Red Thred Solutions; Lauren Coye, Patient and Patient Advocate What often goes unheard in medical situations is the patient’s voice. Our guests have a lot to say about this matter. Cheryl Davis has extensive experience in patient advocacy in the pharmaceutical industry. Now she aids biopharma, biotech and patient advocacy organizat...

HOST: Hildy Grossman, Co-Host: Jordan Rich GUESTS: Chi Fu Jeffrey Yang, MD with Alexandra Potter and Deepti Srinivasan Our podcasts have focused on disparities in healthcare, particularly in Hispanic, Asian, and rural communities. This podcast considers the Black community in the US, and in particular, black women. What do we know about lung cancer differences in the black community vs the white c...