PROFILES IN LUNG CANCER
Lung Cancer Awareness Month 2015

D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD  “Progress will come from changing the way we think about cancer”
Director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs, University of Colorado

I am incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Ross Camidge as my lung cancer oncologist, clinical trial researcher, advocacy cheerleader, and friend. He goes above and beyond to help lung cancer patients better understand their options and find hope.  And he adores his two small daughters.

A sample of the hope Dr. Camidge offers shows in his “User’s Guide to Oncology” presentation.  He explains the basic of cancer in understandable language, talks about how to sort through information available online and elsewhere, shares do’s and dont’s of cancer care, and offers some patient inspiring stories.  I’m honored that he chose mine as one of them.

Oh, and he has an awesome British accent.

What is your connection with lung cancer?

The first lung cancer patient I remember was called John and he was a plumber in Edinburgh in Scotland. He had never smoked and was one of the first people to go on an EGFR inhibitor in a trial and had a great and long lasting response. He was the nicest of people and introduced me to all his tradesmen friends and I will be forever grateful to him for getting me on the inside track for fixing up my ‘fixer upper’ at the time. We didn’t know about EGFR mutations at that point but it was enough for me to see the potential and the need for breakthroughs in this common serious disease. Now, 15 years later, I run the lung cancer program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center where I am a physician and a clinical and translational researcher.

What does your typical day look like?

Get up before my wife and daughters, try not to wake them on my way out to work. If its a clinic day (two days a week) talk through the plan for every patient … read more on Janet Freeman-Daily’s blog “Gray Connections“