lung

Lung cancer doctor whose trials at Massachusetts General Hospital showed that crizotinib works in ROS1-rearranged lung cancer and defined how ALK-positive tumours become resistant to targeted drugs.

ALK-positive lung cancer is driven by a fused ALK gene and is treated with a pill from the start. The newest inhibitors keep the disease under control for years, with lorlatinib holding six in ten patients progression-free at five years, and two years of alectinib after surgery cuts recurrence by three quarters.

BRAF V600E lung cancer carries the same mutation as many melanomas and is treated with the same pairs of pills that block BRAF and MEK together. Dabrafenib with trametinib and encorafenib with binimetinib each shrink about two thirds to three quarters of untreated tumours.

Led the crizotinib and brigatinib trials that defined ALK-targeted lung cancer therapy.

Principal investigator of the National Lung Screening Trial, which first proved CT screening saves lives.

EGFR-mutated lung cancer is driven by a single faulty growth receptor and is treated first with a pill rather than chemotherapy. Osimertinib keeps the disease under control for about a year and a half on average, adding chemotherapy or the antibody amivantamab extends that further, and three years of osimertinib after surgery roughly halves the risk of death in early-stage disease.

Small-cell lung cancer that has spread responds fast to chemotherapy but almost always returns within a year. Adding an immunotherapy antibody to first-line chemotherapy helps a minority live for years, and the T-cell engager tarlatamab, which points immune cells at the DLL3 protein on the cancer, has for the first time lengthened life after relapse.

Led CodeBreaK 100, the trial that made sotorasib the first approved KRAS inhibitor, and showed STK11/KEAP1 co-mutations blunt immunotherapy.

Lung cancer doctor who led PHAROS, the trial that brought the encorafenib and binimetinib pair to BRAF V600E-mutant lung cancer.

Led the NELSON trial, which confirmed CT screening cuts lung cancer deaths in Europe and shaped screening policy.

HER2-mutant lung cancer carries a mutation in the same receptor that drives HER2-positive breast cancer, but the breast cancer antibodies alone did little here. The antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab deruxtecan shrinks about half of tumours after chemotherapy, and the pill zongertinib about seven in ten, and both are approved.

Led RTOG 0617, the trial that showed higher radiation doses do not help in stage III lung cancer and set today's 60 Gy standard.

Led the trials comparing stereotactic radiotherapy with surgery for operable early lung cancer.

The surgeon on CheckMate 816 who showed neoadjuvant immunotherapy does not make lung cancer operations harder.

Korean lung cancer specialist who led CHRYSALIS, the first human study of amivantamab, whose exon 20 insertion cohort earned the drug its first approval.

KRAS G12C lung cancer carries a mutation that was thought impossible to drug for forty years. Sotorasib and adagrasib now shrink about four in ten tumours after chemotherapy and immunotherapy, though the benefit is measured in months, and newer inhibitors and first-line combinations with immunotherapy are in trials.

Small-cell lung cancer that is still confined to one side of the chest is treated to cure with chemotherapy and radiotherapy given together. Adding two years of the immunotherapy antibody durvalumab afterwards lengthened median survival from under three years to over four and a half, the first improvement in this disease in decades.

Lung neuroendocrine tumours, called typical and atypical carcinoids, are slow-growing tumours of the airways that are usually cured by surgery. When they spread, everolimus is the one drug tested in a randomised trial for this site, cabozantinib was approved in 2025, and somatostatin analogues and lutetium radioligand therapy are borrowed from gut tumours.

Led KEYNOTE-024, the trial that made pembrolizumab alone first-line therapy for PD-L1-high lung cancer.

Lung cancer doctor who was the lead author of CheckMate 227, the trial that showed the immunotherapy pair nivolumab and ipilimumab helps people with advanced lung cancer live longer than chemotherapy alone.

MET-driven lung cancer comes in three forms: an exon 14 skipping mutation treated with the pills capmatinib or tepotinib, MET amplification that often arises as an escape route from EGFR drugs, and high c-Met protein levels that the antibody-drug conjugate telisotuzumab vedotin targets.

Myung-Ju Ahn is one of Asia's most prolific lung cancer trialists, a steady presence on the steering committees of the EGFR, ALK, and immunotherapy trials that set today's standards.

Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story.

NTRK fusion lung cancer is very rare and is treated with the same TRK-blocking pills approved for any cancer with the fusion: larotrectinib, entrectinib or repotrectinib shrink most tumours, including in the brain, so the point is to test broadly enough to find it.

Lung cancer doctor who was lead author of VISION, the trial that established tepotinib for lung cancers with MET exon 14 skipping mutations.

Lung cancers that carry a lot of PD-L1 and no targetable mutation can be treated with an immunotherapy antibody alone instead of chemotherapy. Pembrolizumab keeps about a third of patients alive at five years, roughly double what chemotherapy achieved, and adding chemotherapy is reserved for those who need a fast response.

Chinese thoracic oncologist behind HARMONi-2, where the PD-1/VEGF bispecific ivonescimab beat pembrolizumab head to head.

Lung cancer caught before it has spread is treated with surgery, now often keyhole or robotic and sometimes removing only part of a lobe. Immunotherapy given before and after the operation, or a targeted pill afterwards for EGFR or ALK tumours, cuts the chance of the cancer coming back by between a third and four fifths.

RET fusion lung cancer is a rare adenocarcinoma driven by a fused RET gene. The selective pill selpercatinib shrinks most tumours and more than doubles the time to progression compared with chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and pralsetinib is a second option.

Lung cancer researcher who led the pooled analysis showing that entrectinib shrinks NTRK fusion-positive tumours of many kinds, and who studied how ROS1 and NTRK cancers escape targeted drugs.

Pioneer of stereotactic body radiotherapy, whose RTOG 0236 trial made SBRT the standard for inoperable early lung cancer.

ROS1-positive lung cancer is a rare fusion-driven adenocarcinoma treated with a pill. Crizotinib was the first, and the newer drugs repotrectinib and taletrectinib control the disease for about three years, reach the brain and work against the resistance mutation that defeated the older drugs.

Lung cancer trialist behind KEYNOTE-010 and the ADAURA adjuvant osimertinib trial.

Led PACIFIC, which made a year of durvalumab after chemoradiation the standard for stage III lung cancer.

A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle.

Led CheckMate 77T, one of the perioperative immunotherapy trials that changed how operable lung cancer is treated.

Stage III lung cancer that cannot be removed is treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy together, aiming at cure. A year of the immunotherapy antibody durvalumab afterwards raised five-year survival from a third to over 40 percent, and for EGFR-mutated tumours osimertinib after chemoradiation holds the disease for years.