Nirmal K. Veeramachaneni, M.D., a thoracic surgeon and assistant professor in the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, is co-investigator on a UNC research project funded by the American Cancer Society, “Lung cancer surgery: Decisions against life saving care – the intervention.” Samuel Cykert, M.D., is principal investigator on the ACS study, which focuses on an intervention to optimize surgical rates for early stage non-small cell lung cancer and reduce disparities in the care of African American patients with this disease.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The only reliable treatment is removing tumors when the disease is at an early stage, but patients – especially African Americans – do not always move forward with surgery.
The $1.8 million American Cancer Society grant funds the project from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2016. To read more about the project, click here.