Summary
Dr. Ramalingam emphasizes community oncologists must prioritize molecular testing and lung cancer screening to improve patient access to treatments.
Dr. Suresh Ramalingam, a leading lung cancer expert and TIME100 Health 2025 honoree, says community oncologists play a crucial role in getting new lung cancer treatments to more patients. While major advances have been made in lung cancer care over the past decade, many eligible patients still don’t receive these life-saving therapies.
The main challenge is keeping up with rapidly growing medical knowledge. Medical literature now doubles every 7-10 days, making it especially difficult for community oncologists who treat many different types of cancer to stay current.
Dr. Ramalingam identifies two key priorities for community practices: widespread molecular testing for lung cancer and increased focus on lung cancer screening. Molecular testing helps doctors choose the best personalized treatments, whether for early or advanced stage disease. While community oncologists don’t directly provide screening, they can encourage primary care doctors to screen more patients, leading to earlier diagnosis and better treatment outcomes.
