Patient and Family Centered Care in Lung Cancer

Dr. Debra Dyer and experienced patient advocates Rhonda Meckstroth and Gina Hollenbeck discuss shifting lung cancer from a quantitative perspective to a patient and family centered one, including changing the face of lung cancer, and how medicine can further support patients beginning immediately post diagnosis.

Debra Dyer, MD, FACR, is the Chair of Radiology at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Dyer also leads the lung screening program at National Jewish Health, and serves as Committee Chair of the ACR’s Lung Cancer Screening Steering Committee. Rhonda Meckstroth has been a patient advocate since 2015, when her husband Jeff was diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell adenocarcinoma with an ALK mutation. Mrs. Meckstroth serves on the NLCRT Task Force Triage for Appropriate Treatment and Stigma/Nihilism Task Force, and is a leader in the ALK Positive Support Group. Gina Hollenbeck, BSN, started her work in lung cancer advocacy when she was diagnosed with stage IV ALK positive lung cancer in 2015. Mrs. Hollenbeck was Board President of ALK Positive Inc, and now serves on the executive board.   

As a followup to the National Lung Cancer Roundtable and American College of Radiology’s 2021 webinar series, the “Power of Partnerships” limited podcast series will feature conversations currently happening in the world of lung cancer with the people pushing the field into the future.

Additional information on this topic, as well as the resources mentioned during the episode, can be found at https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Resources.