Dr. Laila Gharzai on the Importance of World Lung Cancer Day

Laila Gharzai, MD, a radiation oncologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shares what World Lung Cancer Day, marked on August 1 annually, means to her as a clinician and researcher.

“The opportunity to continue to raise awareness and continue to raise money to work on research efforts—such as improving our lung cancer screening or continuing to improve treatments—offers us the opportunity to improve the lives of our everyday patients,” Dr. Gharzai explained.

She highlighted the fact that despite smoking cessation efforts and educational campaigns, lung cancer remains the number 1 cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

“Lung cancer is still a devastating diagnosis and is still an incredibly important disease,” Dr. Gharzai said.

The American Cancer Society estimates that a quarter of a million Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year, and that 125,000 will die from lung cancer in 2024. Lung cancer accounts for around 20% of all cancer deaths, and more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined, according to the organization.

“We have to remember that for most people in the United States today, if you’re going to die of a cancer, it remains lung cancer,” Dr. Gharzai said.

She emphasized that this makes it critical to raise awareness on World Lung Cancer Day and throughout the year.

“The more we can remind people about this problem and bring awareness and raise money, that is going to translate into better lives for our patients and hopefully significantly improve survival rates as we continue to battle this awful disease,” Dr. Gharzai said.