Specialists Provide Personalized – Gender-specific Care For Women With Lung Cancer
The Women’s Lung Cancer Program, directed by Yolonda L. Colson, MD, PhD, is dedicated to understanding the significance of gender in lung cancer susceptibility, tumor biology, and disease course in order to develop the most effective, personalized treatment plan for each patient.
Program specialists are evaluating specific genetic mutations in tumors, as well as the greater susceptibility of women to develop certain types of lung cancer, such as bronchoalveolar carcinoma (BAC) and adenocarcinoma.
In addition, Program specialists are examining the basis for the development of lung cancer in women who have never smoked (accounting for 20 percent of all women with lung cancer, compared with only five to 10 percent of male lung cancer patients).
Program experts also are evaluating ways to reduce the high recurrence rates of early lung cancer among women — as high at 40 percent with an average 60 percent survival rate. The Program is dedicated to advancing the understanding and identification of lung cancer as a women’s cancer — accounting for more deaths among women each year than breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers combined.
Providing highly specialized diagnosis and treatment for women diagnosed with lung cancer, specialists in the Program use:
*Sub-specialized radiologic and pathology tools;
*Expert surgical intervention;
*Advanced medical and adjuvant therapies;
*Cutting-edge translational research;
*Comprehensive support services.
Through thoracic surgeons, oncologists, pulmonologists, social workers, and other specialists, the Program offers the latest in clinical trials, minimally invasive surgical techniques, and oncology therapies designed to improve outcomes.









