ÂÜŔňÂŇÂ×

In the war against lung cancer, Dr. Rudin is staging a strategic multi-pronged attack on the disease. A world-renowned researcher, Dr. Rudin conducts basic science research, develops cutting edge translational therapeutics, and treats lung cancer patients.

As Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Rudin utilizes his exceptional skills to effectively blend basic science and translational research. By using fresh tumor samples from the patient clinic across the street from his laboratory, Dr. Rudin’s team studies lung cancer and develops novel therapeutics in the lab. These techniques are then taken back to the clinic to be tested in patients who are participating in early stage clinical trials. It is a powerful cycle.

Already his laboratory has run numerous clinical trials looking at novel therapeutics in lung cancer patients. One of his exciting findings is a virus that targets small cell lung cancer. This groundbreaking work has prompted a national clinical trial to consider the possibility of using this virus to help specifically target and kill lung cancer cells. The blood and tumor samples from this trial are returning to Dr. Rudin’s laboratory so that his team can study the effects of the virus on lung cancer and conduct correlative analyses.

In this way, Dr. Rudin’s lab is creating real-time, parallel developments in the laboratory and the clinic that may be the foundation for major breakthroughs in lung cancer care.

While Dr. Rudin is working to develop therapeutics in the laboratory, he also treats patients on a regular basis. Dr. Rudin, a member of LUNGevity’s Scientific Advisory Board, knows that by the time lung cancer is detected, it’s usually too late. “To really have an impact, early detection is going to be essential,” says Dr. Rudin. “A recent national lung cancer screening trial showed that early detection is possible and it can have an impact on mortality rates, but it’s not enough…We need better, cheaper early detection techniques that can be used to screen all people.”

The development of detection techniques and therapeutics costs money. Sadly, there is a huge disparity between lung cancer research funding and research funding for other cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer, says Dr. Rudin. But that is where organizations like LUNGevity make a large impact. “Funding from LUNGevity really complements the federal funding system and helps to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients.”

Dr. Rudin’s complex, multi-pronged attack on lung cancer is based on a very simple idea – saving lives. “Every week I see patients with this disease. Every week patients suffer relapses. I have watched too many lung cancer patients die. I am trying to change the outcome for patients with this disease.”