Stanford Cardiothoracic Surgeons and Global Experts Convene at the 2026 International Lung Cancer Summit

Stanford Medicine convened leading clinicians, scientists, and patient advocates from around the world on March 10–11, 2026, for the Stanford International Lung Cancer Summit, hosted by the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE). The two-day meeting was dedicated to advancing the understanding, prevention, early detection, and treatment of lung cancer. The summit focused particularly on lung cancer in people who have never smoked, as the disease disproportionately affects Asian populations—especially non-smoking Asian women.

Among the event’s key organizers was Natalie Lui, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Heather Wakelee, MD, Winston Chen and Phyllis Huang Professor of Medicine (Oncology), both serving as co-hairs of the 2026 Stanford International Lung Cancer Summit. Both are actively involved in the Stanford Cancer Institute and Stanford CARE lung cancer initiatives.

“Lung cancer in people who have never smoked is something we all confront regularly in our clinical practice,” said Dr. Lui during her opening remarks. “Every week, we see patients who have never smoked and are suddenly diagnosed—sometimes through an incidental finding, sometimes after a new symptom. They almost always ask, ‘Why did this happen?’ We hope to find better answers for them.”

Dr. Lui, the surgical director of the Stanford Lung Cancer Screening Clinic, helped coordinate and launch the inaugural summit in 2025 as part of her role with Stanford CARE. For this year’s summit, she presented on “Innovations in Surgical Care for Lung Cancer” and “Lung Cancer Screening in Never-Smokers: From TALENT Study to Nationwide Lung Cancer Screening.”

Several members of the Stanford Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery were also prominently featured in the summit’s speaker lineup:

• Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Thoracic Surgery), moderated the session on ‘Screening in the U.S. for People Who Have Never Smoked’’
• Mark Berry, MD, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Thoracic Surgery), served as a panelist for the “Clinical Developments in Lung Cancer Care” session
• Irmina Elliott, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Thoracic Surgery), served as moderator for the session on ‘Junior Investigator Round Table’ session
• Lillian Tsai, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Thoracic Surgery), served as a panelist during the “Clinical Developments in Lung Cancer Care” session.
• Carolyn Chang, MD, Postdoctoral Researcher, was a panelist for the “Junior Investigator Round Table” session.
   

Day one of the summit focused on several key areas: the epidemiology of lung cancer in people who have never smoked; clinical developments in lung cancer care; lung cancer screening in the United States for never-smokers; and clinical updates from the TALENT study.

Day two covered basic science updates, including novel therapeutics, detection, monitoring, and drug development. It also featured a junior investigators’ roundtable and a patient advocacy panel featuring several lung cancer patients.

The summit also included a scientific poster session. Presentations featured cardiothoracic surgery trainees and researchers Carolyn Chang, Jake Kim, Sania Choudhary, Devanish Kamtam, and Amanda Immidisetti. Collaborators Sophia Wang, a graduate student in epidemiology, and Alan Li, a graduate student in radiology, also presented.

Stanford thoracic surgeons and researchers are helping to raise awareness about the importance of early lung cancer screening. Learn more about lung cancer from our thoracic surgeons.