The Susan Wojcicki Foundation Talks with Norah O’Donnell about Lung Cancer, Risk, and Why Screening Rates Remain So Low

Susan Wojcicki Foundation Board Member Anne Wojcicki recently sat down with CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell for her podcast, "Healthful," to talk about her sister Susan’s legacy and how it informs the work of the Foundation.  

In a compelling episode titled "The Rise of Lung Cancer in Women and Never-Smokers," Wojcicki was joined by Dr. Kim Sandler, Director of the Vanderbilt Lung Screening Program, and Shira Kupperman Boehler, a daily runner with no risk factors who was diagnosed with lung cancer at 44, to answer O’Donnell’s questions. Kupperman Boehler recently wrote about her journey and the importance of early detection in her book, "One Scan Saved My Life: How One Woman's Story Will Change the Way We Detect Lung Cancer."

From multiple perspectives, the group discussed what it’s like to live through a lung cancer diagnosis or to watch someone they love navigate one, and why lung cancer is becoming more common among people who have never smoked.

“Being a lung cancer survivor is a lonely place, because there aren’t many of me,” Kupperman Boehler said of her experience being diagnosed at an early stage, when her cancer was treatable.

“The juxtaposition of the two of us here tells you the outcome,” Wojcicki noted. Embracing Kupperman Boehler, she continued, “You know, my sister is not here, and Shira is, but my sister would be here if she had been scanned,” referring to early detection.

O'Donnell also filmed herself getting a low-dose CT scan and reacting on-air to her results and how easy the scan was, a personal moment reframing screening as an act of self-advocacy, rather than a source of fear.

One of the Foundation initiatives Wojcicki references in the episode is the Lung Cancer Genetics Study (LCGS), a first-of-its-kind national research effort the Foundation supports, in collaboration with more than 20 lung cancer advocacy organizations and the 23andMe Research Institute. To learn more about the Lung Cancer Genetics Study, our collaborators, and the eligibility criteria, please visit the LCGS page.

People who have been diagnosed with lung cancer and are interested in contributing to this research can learn more about eligibility and the enrollment process directly through the study's participant site.

Researchers interested in applying to access de-identified data from the LCGS database can find the full application process on our LCGS resources page.

You can listen to the full episode of "Healthful" now.