Kentucky Lung Cancer Survivorship Program

We recently received notice that the Bristol-Myers-Squibb Foundation accepted our Letter of Intent, and we are moving forward with developing a grant application entitled, Kentucky Lung Cancer Survivorship Program. This heavily community-engaged effort forged by the Kentucky Cancer Consortium will promote lung cancer survivorship in Kentucky and move forward with a broad array of partnerships across the Commonwealth united by the mission to improve lung cancer care in Kentucky. The Kentucky Lung Cancer Survivorship Program will have three key components and an administrative core, committed to reducing the burden of lung cancer on Kentucky. The first component, Provider Education, will be led by Connie Sorrell of the Kentucky Cancer Program West and Dr. Goetz Kloecker of the University of Louisville. The mission of this component will be to develop and evaluate a continuing education program for primary care providers regarding quality lung cancer care by highlighting evidence-based lung cancer diagnosis and treatment, but will also address evidence-based tobacco cessation, early detection, and survivorship efforts. The second component, Survivorship Care, will be led by Dr. Jamie Studts of the University of Kentucky. The aims of this component will be to develop and evaluate a lung cancer-specific survivorship program for individuals diagnosed with lung cancer as well as their caregivers. This component will also develop a training program to facilitate dissemination of the lung cancer survivorship care program that will target lung cancer navigators and mental health providers. The third component, Prevention and Early Detection, will be led by Drs. Timothy Mullett and Jennifer Redmond at the University of Kentucky. The mission of this component will be to facilitate high-quality implementation of lung cancer screening throughout Kentucky and will also work to insure the integration of evidence-based tobacco cessation interventions in lung cancer control efforts. The Kentucky Lung Cancer Survivorship Program will be implemented in three phases. During year 1, the component teams will build their interventions and prepare for the implementation during the Development Phase. In year 2 and proceeding into the first six months of year 3, the component teams will enter the Research Implementation and Evaluation Phase, which will involve implementing and testing the recently developed interventions. In the final six months of year 3, the component teams will analyze and disseminate results from the projects, but also consider indicated adaptations and sustainability. Collaborating with an extensive network of community partners, this interdisciplinary team of community partners and lung cancer prevention and control experts create a unique opportunity for Kentucky to lead in the area of lung cancer survivorship research and programming.