Jamie Studts, PhD, has co-created a project designed to boost lung cancer screening rates in Kentucky earning a grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to create and roll out an enhanced version of the program in two more states in the coming years. 

Kentucky was the focus of Dr. Studts' initial project because it is the state with the highest incidence and mortality from lung cancer.  Considered part of 'tobacco nation', Kentucky is a very heavy tobacco-using and growing part of the county, with numerous cultural ties to tobacco.

Dr. Studts and his colleagues at the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, worked to develop the Kentucky Lung Cancer Education Awareness, Detection, and Survivorship (LEADS) Collaborative which aimed to educate primary care clinicians about lung cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.   Additionally the collaborative aimed to create a survivorship care intervention for individuals diagnosed with lung cancer to improve their quality of life and well-being, and to facilitate implementation of lung cancer screening in collaboration with lung cancer screening programs.

“We want to leverage the lung cancer screening platform as effectively as we can, including in the Black community and the LGBTQ community. We know there are a number of communities out there that have a higher rate of smoking, and therefore are more likely to be eligible for lung cancer screening, but they are not being reached by a mainstream message that is designed for the majority of the community. There need to be targeted efforts to do outreach and engagement with other community entities and organizations in order to support broader access" says Dr. Studts.