Barry Nelson, 70, lung cancer, Boston, with Chris Lathan, MD, MS, MPH, Chief Clinical Access and Equity Officer, Faculty Director for Cancer Care Equity, Dana-Farber

WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

In 2012, Barry noticed some swelling on his neck, so he made an appointment to see his primary care physician. An x-ray and CT scan lead to follow-up appointments with various specialists until he was diagnosed with Stage 3B non-small cell lung cancer. Barry was initially going to get treatment at another institution but stopped at Dana-Farber to get a second opinion from Dr. Lathan. He recalls Dr. Lathan telling him they’d use all the tools in the toolbox and fight as hard as he could. From there, Barry knew he was in the right place.

The treatment caused his tumors to shrink significantly and gave him his life back. Today, he’s no longer in active treatment, but returns to Dana-Farber for a follow-up every 6 months. Barry also volunteers as a patient advocate at Dana-Farber and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He echoes that everything done at Dana-Farber is done with love and integrity, and he’s honored to be a part of that too.

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer (not counting skin cancer) in both men and women. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 238,340 new cases of lung cancer in the United States for 2023.

Dr. Lathan has been a member of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Dana-Farber since 2005 and was appointed as the first Faculty Director of Cancer Care Equity at Dana-Farber in 2010. He directs a successful Dana-Farber clinical service at Whittier Street Health Center in Boston where he developed a lung cancer screening pilot program with the support of a CVS pharmacy foundation grant. He is also a leading researcher in Dana-Farber’s Population Science. Center on issues of race and class disparities in cancer care and has published and lectured
extensively on this topic.