Department Thoracic Surgery Faculty Advance
Lung Cancer Screening and Care

Joseph Shrager, MD, Professor and Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery

Q: What pioneering research are you conducting to improve lung cancer survival, cure rates, and lung cancer screening criteria?

A: In my Respiratory Muscle Research Laboratory, we are pioneering approaches that target early detection, address genetic disparities, and leverage cutting-edge surgical techniques for lung cancer. We recently contributed to expert consensus on multidisciplinary management of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancers in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery outlining recommendations for optimal lung cancer management.

My research also strives to improve the current standard screening criteria for lung cancer, which focuses on smoking history, dramatically reducing the likelihood of early detection in people who lightly smoke or never smoked. We are also aiming to reshape lung cancer screening guidelines to include racial and genetic considerations. Recently, I served on the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Workforce on General Thoracic Surgery and served as senior author on two STS expert consensus documents central to surgical management of locally advanced lung cancer and screen-detected lung cancer.

Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, Professor and Co-director of the Stanford Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program

Q: What innovative advances are you making to improve lung cancer screening criteria in the United States?

A: My Stanford Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Laboratory is conducting national research to better define screening numbers and paint a true picture of follow-up screening rates after lung cancer, with the hopes of improving how we screen for lung cancer in the United States. My research team has also studied innovative ways to make screenings more accessible, including combining lung cancer screening with mammogram to detect lung cancer early and save more lives. We have also made revolutionary discoveries in lung cancer surveillance after treatment and cancer survivorship, and have done extensive presentations of findings related to this work at regional and national lung cancer conferences.

Douglas Liou, MD, Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Thoracic Surgery Program at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley

Q: How have you expanded and improved lung cancer screenings in the Bay Area?

A: When I started the Lung Surgery Program at Tri-Valley, I also started a lung cancer screening program for the Pleasanton, California community, which achieved American College of Radiology accreditation for the hospital. Another exciting endeavor has been pioneering a virtual Lung Cancer Screening model that has since been adopted as a pilot program for lung cancer screening across the Stanford enterprise. In addition, I also developed a pilot program to improve follow-up care for lung nodules discovered incidentally on imaging studies performed for other purposes for our Tri-Valley patients.

Natalie Lui, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Director of the Lung Cancer Screening Clinic at Stanford Health Care

Q: How are you increasing access to lung cancer screening through research, clinical care, and community outreach?

A: In my Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, where one focus is increasing the rates of lung cancer screening, we have completed studies on the impact of electronic reminders on lung cancer screening and barriers to lung cancer screening, which we presented at the IASLC 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer in September. In my clinical practice, I am using this technology to alert patients who are eligible for lung cancer screening and empowering them to schedule directly through the Stanford Lung Cancer Screening Clinic.

My team also launched a pilot study to screen people who do not meet the current screening guidelines–namely firefighters and Asian people who have never smoked. In addition, we are actively providing community outreach to educate the public on the importance of lung cancer screening. For example, we host a booth at the Stanford Health Matters fair each May.