The American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative Podcast

In this episode, we have the great honor and privilege of talking with Jack Owens. Jack Owens is a rising junior at the University of Notre Dame and is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is studying business analytics, finance, and computing and digital technologies, and serves as Vice President of Business Development for the Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion, a student-run n...

In this episode, we have the great honor and privilege of talking with Mr. John Matthews. John is the founder of Ride Hard Breathe Easy; a nonprofit organization committed to supporting lung cancer patients and advancing awareness and care. Motivated by the loss of his mother to lung cancer, John turned his grief into action by launching a cross-country bike ride that has since grown into a nation...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Dr. Aurora Lucas. Dr. Lucas is a Filipina American lung cancer survivor, educator, and independent consultant deeply committed to health equity, inclusive storytelling, and culturally responsive advocacy. Diagnosed with Stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer at 28 while completing her doctorate and teaching full-time, Aurora experienced delays in diagnosis due to...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Dr. Sora Ely. Sora Ely, MD is a thoracic surgeon at The George Washington University. She completed her medical degree at the Tulane University School of Medicine, her General Surgery residency at UCSF East Bay, and her Thoracic Surgery fellowship at the Yale School of Medicine. She is board-certified in General Surgery and in Thoracic Surgery. She serves as Co-D...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Hannah Safron. After completing her undergraduate degree in Public Health in Chicago in 2021, Hannah set off on a year-long federal service volunteer program with AmeriCorps NCCC. She has experience in urban agriculture, disaster relief work, affordable housing construction, and trail maintenance. For the past two years, she has worked full-time at the GW Cancer...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Dr. Eric Singhi. Dr. Eric K. Singhi is a thoracic/head and neck medical oncologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine and completed his Internship and Residency training in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University. He subse...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Dr. Lecia Sequist. Dr. Sequist is a medial oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she serves as the program director of the Cancer Early Detection & Diagnostic Clinic. Dr. Sequist received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University before attending Harvard Medical School, subsequently going to study internal medical at Brigham and Women's H...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Jeff Stibelman. Jeff is a lung cancer survivor who’s journey began in 2017. On January 1, 2017 Jeff was diagnosed with cancer of the cervical spine after experiencing severe nerve pain down his whole right side. Following a procedure to remove 3/4 of the tumor and radiosurgery to treat the remainder, everything was stable until March 2021. After receiving a chest...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Caitlin Der. Caitlin is a dedicated professional with a passion for community-driven initiatives and advocacy. She currently manages programming, events, development, and communications for KRAS Cancer Connect, fostering support for those affected by KRAS-driven cancers. Previously, she served for nearly a decade on the board of a North Carolina-based chapter of...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Daniel West. Daniel is a survivor and dedicated lung cancer patient advocate committed to increasing awareness, supporting patients, and reducing the societal stigma associated with lung cancer. His journey began in October 2022 when two suspicious nodules were identified in his lung during a heart scan, and later confirmed to be stage 2b Non-Small Cell Lung Canc...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Jill Feldman. Jill is a lung cancer patient and advocate. With an extensive family history of lung cancer, Jill got involved in lung cancer advocacy in 2001, when it was in its infancy. In 2009, at 39 years old with four small children, Jill herself was diagnosed with EGFR-positive lung cancer. Jill is committed to understanding and promoting patient-centered res...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Kristen Kimball. Kristen was a 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 7 more years and continue his innumerable projects and spend time with his family. Kristen retired from the University of Connecticut Department of Physiology and Neurobiology where...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Joan Burnham, MSN, RN, ONN-CG, OCN, MEDSURG-BC, an Oncology Nurse Navigator within the Houston Methodist health system. Joan’s nursing journey began in 1985 at St. Luke’s Episcopal before moving to the oncology department of the Kelsey-Seybold clinic in 1988. From there, Joan would establish, oversee, or serve in the oncology departments of multiple different hea...

Our guest on this ALCSI podcast is Dr. Drew Moghanaki. Dr. Moghanaki is the Chief of Thoracic Oncology at UCLA Health’s Department of Radiation Oncology and co-directs the VA Greater Los Angeles Lung Precision Oncology Program. He is well recognized for his expertise in radiation therapy treatments for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer, and thymoma. Dr. Moghanaki has...

On this ALCSI podcast, Terri Conneran shares her experience being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017. Terri’s lung cancer was specifically caused by a KRAS mutation, and unable to find an existing KRAS support group, she decided to start her own. Thus, Terri founded KRASKickers ( https://www.kraskickers.org/) , a support group for KRAS-positive patients and their families. KRASKickers, which bring...

On this ALCSI podcast, Ms. Michelle Ottersbach shares her experience working as a nurse navigator, exercise physiologist, lung health advisor and lung cancer screening program consultant. In 2012, she found her life-calling in lung cancer when UC Health-University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute asked her to help them transform their lung cancer screening research study into the first structured mu...

On this ALCSI podcast, Dr. Shakera Moreland shares her experience being a caregiver to her mother who was diagnosed with lung cancer. Dr. Moreland is a Healthcare Information Management (HIM) content creator, Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project, Speaker, and Graduate Professor, among many other roles. Through her experiences in academia and healthcare, Dr. Moreland has been working to develop...

In this episode of the ALCSI podcast, Albert Jeans, a lung cancer survivor, shares his story. Albert was diagnosed two years ago, when he received a coronary artery calcium scan to check for plaque in his arteries. The scan picked up on a tumor, that was then removed surgically. In this episode, Albert speaks about the importance of screening those without obvious risk factors, and the value of pa...

In this quick introduction to ALCSI, we introduce who we are, the work we do, and what the structure of the podcast will be. Learn more about ALCSI at www.alcsi.org and complete our lung cancer screening eligibility assessment here - https://redcap.partners.org/redcap/surveys/?s=XP7ERT78774TCYYN.

In this episode, Taylor Duck, a lung cancer survivor and advocate, speaks about her diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and advocacy journey. Taylor first began experiencing symptoms such as numbness in her toes and recurrent pneumonia in her freshman year of college, but was only diagnosed during her junior year, when she went to the emergency room with a severe stomachache. Soon after, she received...

In this episode of the ALCSI podcast, Angus Pratt, a lung cancer and breast cancer survivor, shares his survival, advocacy, and research journey. Angus was diagnosed with male breast cancer in April 2018 and stage 3C lung cancer in May 2018. Since then, he has been a prominent advocate for increased screening, research, and mental health awareness related to lung cancer. Learn more about Angus at...

In this episode, Judy Noble, a lung cancer survivor, shares her story. Judy was diagnosed with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer in 2018. Since then, she has become active in various advocacy efforts, including the Lung Cancer Initiative (https://lungcancerinitiative.org/) and the White Ribbon Project (https://www.thewhiteribbonproject.org/), as well as on social media @judyl.a.noble. Learn mo...

On this episode of the ALCSI podcast, Lindsay Wagner discusses her journey as a lung cancer survivor. Lindsay was diagnosed in 2022 at age 41 with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the ALK-positive mutation. Since her diagnosis, Lindsay has been active in spreading the word about lung cancer on social media. Find Lindsay on Instagram and TikTok @positivelyALK.

On this episode of the ALCSI Podcast, Rhonda Meckstroth discusses her journey as a caregiver for her husband Jeff and her work as a lung cancer advocate. Jeff was diagnosed with stage IV ALK-positive lung cancer in 2015, and passed away in May of 2023. Rhonda has become a very active member in multiple advocacy organizations, including as a member of the Board of Directors of the White Ribbon Proj...

On this episode of the ALCSI podcast, Katie Brown, a cervical cancer survivor and lung cancer caregiver and advocate discusses her experiences as a caregiver for her father and her work with organizations such as the LUNGevity Foundation, Breathe Deep DFW, and more. Learn more about Katie at iamkatiebrown.com, or on Instagram @iamkatiebrown2. Learn more about ALCSI at www.alcsi.org.