Dr. Joshua K. Sabari is the editor in chief of CURE. He also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and director of High Reliability Organization Initiatives at Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari sat down with Terri Conneran at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer for a conversation on the importance of biomarker testing.

Understanding the Importance of Biomarker Testing in Lung Cancer

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari, a thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and editor-in-chief of CURE, sat down with Terri Conneran, founder of KRASKickers, at the 2025 IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer.

Conneran founded KRASKickers after discovering her own KRAS mutation following a recurrence of lung cancer. Frustrated by the lack of resources and community for patients with KRAS mutations, she aimed connect with others facing similar challenges. The organization emphasizes patient-centered support.

: I'm Josh Sabari, a thoracic medical oncologist with NYU Langone Health, Perlmutter Cancer Center. I'm also the editor-in-chief of CURE. I'm so excited to be here today with Terri Caroline, part of the KRAS Kickers. Terri, tell me your story.

: Josh, I've got to tell you, it's really cool to be here with you, because being able to come to a conference and learn information is really where things start. Let me tell you what happened at the beginning, because my goal in life was never to be an advocate or do any of this. I was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2017. I went through standard treatment for stage 3, which included chemo and surgery. I thought I was going to get back into my normal world, but it doesn't happen that quickly.

I then got involved with some lung cancer groups and started seeing a little bit of support. I heard about these biomarkers, and you would walk into a room full of patients, and they looked no different than me, and they would be like, “Oh, ALK people, EGFR people! I'm on a TKI, etc.” And I was like, “What am I?”

So, I asked my doctor, and she says, “Well, you don't have anything. You may not have anything. Those are biomarkers, and you don't have any biomarkers,” right? Well, I stayed and got involved with a little bit of advocacy, kind of started getting my feet wet, and stayed in the lung cancer realm. Quite commonly, most people who are diagnosed don't have a biomarker, don't have anything actionable, and they don't really have any sort of place. Honestly, it's kind of like losing momentum around it. Then I had the first of what ended up being two recurrences in pretty short order, in 2019, and was moved from stage 3 to stage 4. We were able to nail it down with some radiation. I thought, “OK, I've now learned from these other advocates that if a second opinion is going to make the doctor mad, then you shouldn't have been seeing him to begin with.”

I moved away from my community oncologist and went out for a second opinion at a big NCI Cancer Center. The first thing she says is, “Wow, they did biomarker testing when you were first diagnosed and re-did it, and we checked it, and it all says KRAS G12D.” So, I had been asking the question, and nobody gave me that information! I found KRAS. I was like, “Cool, I can go find my people, right?” So, I went looking for my people…

I was able to connect and started a Facebook group in January 2020. I started the Facebook group and just started connecting people. I thought, “If I'm taking something on, I need the same sort of can-do spirit and attitude that I've got, and we're going to kick KRAS.” I'm not sure what that is, but we're going to be KRAS kicking. The KRAS Kickers were born, and most patients call it KRAS Kickers. The reason I refer to it as KRAS is so that oncologists and researchers know I know what I'm talking about. That's how it started. It evolved into something I had no idea about from the beginning, but that's what started the momentum.

Now, fast-forward five years. We're in 117 different countries. We have a reach beyond 10,000 people. When I do a video, maybe 17,000 to 20,000 people watch a view. There is an impact, and people are starting to know. It's not just about what KRAS is, but what it is. Is it G12C? Is it G12D? Is it G12A? Is it wild-type? The KRAS Kickers group is pan-tumor. We're one of the few groups that represents all cancers. Because if you're starting the molecular part of it, and you're finding that KRAS is the most common mutation in the three deadliest cancers, we have something in common.

That's how we ended up with the KRASKickers socks. The socks represent patients walking side-by-side. We are the soul of the journey, and as the soul, we need to be surrounded by the people and the support. The way we're doing that is each color on here represents the most common places you find KRAS cancers: white is lung, blue is colorectal, purple is pancreatic and gray represents not just the brain, but also many rare KRAS cancers. We want people walking side-by-side. You'll get some side-by-side on the journey because nobody's here to walk alone.

We're not necessarily focused on funding for the tomorrows, which is very important, but that's not our focus. We're not necessarily focused on scanning and getting people scanned. That's important. Our focus is right here, right now, where patients are standing and what they need. And if they're looking for understanding, they're looking for hugs and a helping hand, or if they're looking for clinical trials, that's really where we help them the most.

: Terri, your story is so powerful. It's so amazing what you're doing in the field. You mentioned that KRAS is quite common and occurs in lung, colon and pancreatic cancers. So much work needs to be done.

I remember the first time I met you in person, it was at ASCO 2023. We had just presented some [new] data, and not knowing you, you walked right up to me and handed me a pair of socks that I wear to the clinic all the time. This is a mutation that occurs in 30% of our patient population. Thank you for everything that you do. Your work is so powerful.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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Videos

Dr. Joshua Sabari spoke with advocate Chris Conneran on his journey from caregiver to champion for KRAS-mutant cancer patients and families.

Patient Advocate and Caregiver Shares Advocacy Journey in KRAS Cancers 

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari, a thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and editor-in-chief of CURE, sat down with Chris Conneran at the 2025 IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer to discuss advocacy in KRAS-mutant cancers.

Conneran, a patient advocate with KRAS Kickers and a caregiver to his wife with lung cancer, shared his journey from supporting her diagnosis to championing education, research and community resources for patients and families.

I'm Josh Sabari, a thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health, Perlmutter Cancer Center. I'm also the editor-in-chief of CURE, and Chris, it's a pleasure to meet and sit down with you. I know you're a part of KRAS Kickers, and you're a caregiver to your wife with this diagnosis. Tell me your story. How did you get to the place you are now, advocating for KRAS-mutant cancers?

 Well, let me tell you, it's a really stressful thing when your wife is diagnosed. She was diagnosed about eight years ago. All of a sudden, you find that your world has turned upside down. We were just becoming empty-nesters and found out that my wife has lung cancer. It changes everything. At first, you're going to do what any other good husband does; you want to fix things. Because us guys, we want to fix. That's just how we do it. 

I couldn't fix this, so what did I do? I'm trying to support her, I'm researching it. I'm in IT, so I thought, “I've got to find out what's going on with this. What is this lung cancer stuff, what is this?” And everything looked really bad. I said, “I've got to make a difference.”

What did I do? When she was going through chemo, I ripped all the carpet out of our house, no kidding, because the doctor told us, “Dust is hard on them.” And I took those words to heart, because I had to do something. If you can imagine, my wife was not too happy about the fact that when she came home, the hardwood floors were there and the carpets were all ripped up, but we worked it out.

Then I started thinking. She talked me into going to a conference, and I said, “What is this conference about?” At first, we went to a big lung cancer conference, and they said, “Okay, all you EGFR people over here, all you ALK people over here.” I looked at her and said, “You must have this really rare cancer because there's nobody here like you.” There were like two or three other people there. Come to find out, after a second opinion, we found it was KRAS. And lo and behold, KRAS is in around 35% of all lung cancer. But at the time, we felt really left out because the doctor told us, “Oh, you don't have anything.” We got the testing, but come to find out, we didn't have anything that was actionable. As you learn, we're learning this knowledge, and we want to give back to the community and help people so they don't go through the things we went through.

[My wife] first formed [KRAS Kickers] as a Facebook group. But how did it fit me? I started meeting a lot of folks on the other side and saying, “I'm a support person.” I started getting together with other groups, and I thought, “There's a real need out here for people to get this knowledge.”

I went to one of the conferences, and I met one of the oncologists. I said, “Look, I just turned 60. I've got 30 years in IT. I'm not stupid. I figure things out. I have a math degree. What can I do to make a difference? What would you want me to do? How could I help out?” He goes, "I can't get biostatisticians to work on my clinical trials, we have to fight to get one to help out.” I said, “Okay, great, I'm going back to school.” I told my wife and my kids — all my kids had graduated from college, and they were like, "Dad's going back to school?" So, I went back to school.

 So I went back to school. A little over a year ago, I got accepted into Chapel Hill.

 Chapel Hill is a wonderful school. I went ahead and started bioinformatics. I'm almost done with that. I'm already going for my doctorate. I just finished my dissertation. That's what I was telling you a little bit about, that clinical trial finder that we're working on. I've had an opportunity to work with several professors at different colleges, working on some of their projects already, and it's really exciting. The more I dig into it, the more I realize how important it is to get the data, like all the data you see on these reports. I've been working on doing a lot of that. There's a statistician behind the scenes doing that work, pulling this stuff out, and now I'm betting on doing one of my own. I feel like I'm 40 again. I went from 60 to 40 going back to school.

 Not just the brawn, but also the brains. You're doing a lot of work in the KRAS space. I know you're helping folks with colorectal cancer, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. As a caregiver of somebody with cancer, what would you tell somebody newly diagnosed — a family member, a wife, a husband, a child — who comes to you and says, “Hey, Chris, what do I do moving forward?” I know a lot of my patients tell me family members feel stuck. What would you recommend doing to move forward, maybe even including joining KRAS Kickers?

 Whether it's KRAS Kickers or another group, get involved. Don't just get involved with one group; get involved with many. At first, I was afraid to go to one of the meetings. For example, we have patient and care partner groups. We have meetups where we get chances to meet with them, and we have people who come and just talk. We all get together, and it's so important. We've had care partners come in who are just at their wits' end, because it's really stressful for the whole family. When somebody gets diagnosed, everybody gets diagnosed.

I would say one of the things to do is to find a support group. There's an old saying. You get on an airplane, and the first thing they tell the moms and dads is that in the event of an emergency, put the mask on yourself first, before your kids, right? That's the same thing I would tell a care partner: you need to do the same thing. It's easy to get stressed and stay up all night looking at stuff. You need to put the mask on yourself first. You need to take care of yourself. Don't get overwhelmed and worn out so you can take care of somebody else, because we don't need two people in the hospital.

I also say that, at first, you might think it's a sprint, but it's a marathon. You're going to get lots of tests, you're going to need to meet with someone. And so many times in our group, one of the biggest values, I think, we provide is we tell them a little bit about what's going on and what they can expect. They want to know what to expect. It's this mystery. And a lot of times they're like, “Well, we had somebody who said, ‘Hey, I'm on vacation. I just got diagnosed. It's Friday. Should I fly home from Disney right away?’” We told them, “Look, it's a holiday weekend. You're at Disney. There's nothing better for you to do. Enjoy your family time, because nothing's going to happen between now and Monday or Tuesday. You're not going to get to see the doctor or any of that stuff. Enjoy your life a little bit.”

I think that's what I would tell people: don't overstress. Take care of yourself as a care partner first, so you can give love to your loved ones and also your family, because it impacts your kids. If you have little kids or older kids, we all went to a gathering together where we all met with a psychiatrist to just kind of help us work through some of their stresses. We didn't have mom there; I was there with the kids, and they had a chance to talk to a professional and say what was bothering them. And that open communication among family members is very important.

 Chris, thank you. You do amazing work with KRAS Kickers, and for everything that you do helping patients, families and caregivers. Keep on doing everything you're doing; we need more folks like you.


Dr. Josh Sabari and Max Doppelt explore challenges in trial enrollment and the potential of emerging therapies to offer hope for patients diagnosed today.

Using AI to Improve Clinical Trial Access for Those With Lung Cancer 

Dr. Josh Sabari, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and CURE’s editor-in-chief, sat down with Max Doppelt at the 2025 IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer to discuss clinical trial access for lung cancer patients.

Doppelt, who is a lung cancer patient advocate, as well as the founder of the Stealth AI Health Startup, shares his personal experience navigating trials for his mother, who has an EGFR Exon 20 mutation. He also goes on to explain how it inspired him to develop an AI-driven tool to match patients with the most suitable trials.

The pair also explore the challenges in trial enrollment and the potential of emerging therapies to offer hope for patients diagnosed today.

 Hello. I'm Dr. Josh Sabari, a thoracic medical oncologist from NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center. I'm also the editor-in-chief of CURE magazine, and I'm here with Max Doppelt, a colleague and friend. Max, what brings you to this conference?

 Well, I'm here to really learn more about improving clinical trial access. I'm a caregiver myself. My mom was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer about two years ago, and thankfully, today, she's still battling. So, I'm here for a number of reasons. For one, I want to really understand the landscape and what the emerging therapies are in this area. 

She has a unique EGFR Exon 20 mutation, and the latest advancements coming out in that space have been truly amazing. So I'm really excited to be here to learn more about the emerging therapies, but also, more broadly, to dedicate my career to improving clinical trial access for other patients.

 You have an amazing story and an amazing journey, both in business and tech, and now you're really entering the oncology space. What would you tell someone newly diagnosed in 2025? What advice would you give them? And how would you give them hope with this diagnosis?

I think there's so much that's really encouraging right now. When my mom was first diagnosed, ChatGPT and this entire AI wave was really up and coming, and those technologies truly enabled me to be the best version of a caregiver that I could be. We have an amazing team of oncologists, and since we live in New York, we obviously go way back. But being able to leverage everything from my tech background to help my mom navigate her care, and now getting involved in patient advocacy and building tools to help other patients, is where my passion is.

Now, yes, you're a true patient advocate. You're here at conferences. I see you at many conferences. You know a lot more than many of the doctors I actually talk to in clinical practice. Within the EGFR Exon 20 space, I know you're working on a really cool product — a model that helps patients match to clinical trials. Tell me more about it. Where did that come from? How did this come about?

Sadly, it came about through personal experience. Clinical trial access is a very well-known problem. A number of companies have tried to target and build solutions in this space. Earlier this year, when my mom's condition metastasized to her brain, there was no standard of care available to her, so we turned to clinical trials. The institutions were able to help in certain ways, but we had a really hard time navigating and understanding what trial was best for her. Then, actually going through the process of accessing and getting onto a trial was a nightmare.

It would take several weeks to determine eligibility and go through screening. Part of what I really want to focus on is introducing transparency into the process.

Yeah, I agree. Clinical trials are critical in moving the field forward by studying new medicines, but the process is very clunky. The whole process is so difficult to get people enrolled and onto trials. There are so many inclusion and exclusion criteria. What was your experience like navigating this trial landscape, and how do you hope to change that in the future?

So, ClinicalTrials.gov is publicly available, but it only captures a subset of a study's true protocol. That was a learning experience for me, because I would go through the trial search engine and find trials over the course of hours — it's such a complex piece of software to navigate. Then, once we found trials that she was a great candidate for, we went through screening. I was ultimately so confused as to why she was failing screening for multiple trials. It's because, especially in the oncology and rare disease space, these protocols have gotten so complex, and there are so many manual processes in determining whether a patient passes.

Part of what I'm building is a tool that utilizes AI to leverage a patient's medical records and determine, in closer to real time, the best matches for them. This will introduce transparency for the patient and honestly help the sponsors as well, because these are critical drugs, and patient recruitment and getting to full capacity and enrollment is a huge challenge for them.

Yeah, it's such an important unmet need. I've seen early versions, and it's really exciting to be able to take patient data and understand what trials would be the best fit for them. There are lots of different companies and products available. I think bringing AI into this space addresses a huge unmet need, and it's a great opportunity to help people diagnosed with lung cancer.

Max, thank you for joining us, for telling your story, and for everything that you do for the community.

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari is the editor-in-chief of CURE.

Over the past 20 years, there have been dramatic advances in treatment options for people diagnosed with lung cancer. Small molecules that target specific alterations in lung cancer, referred to as targeted therapies and immunotherapies, which activate our immune system to better recognize cancer as foreign, have revolutionized how we think about and treat lung cancer. These therapies were initially studied in people with stage 4 metastatic or incurable lung cancer and have dramatically improved outcomes and quality of life for our patients and family members.

Historically, people diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer (stage 1B to 3A) who underwent curative intent surgical resection had unacceptably high rates of recurrence of their disease. Staging systems using the TNM classification — (T) tumor size, (N) lymph nodes and (M) metastases — help us better prognosticate risk of recurrence and potential benefit for therapy before resection (neoadjuvant) or after resection (adjuvant). The recognition that micrometastatic disease, cancer cells outside the primary tumor and beyond the surgeon’s grasp, can contribute to recurrence of disease has driven the field to take a more holistic approach to reduce the recurrence risks and increase the rate of cure. Systemic therapies are critical in reducing the risk of recurrence and increasing the rates of cure. Unfortunately, chemotherapy only minimally improved the rates of survival in resectable early-stage lung cancer.

Due to tremendous advances in our understanding of the biology of cancer, novel systemic therapies such as immunotherapy and targeted therapy are now being utilized in early-stage lung cancer with dramatic improvements in outcomes. As a practicing thoracic medical oncologist, I now recommend perioperative therapy: systemic treatment both before and after resection. I often discuss this approach as having “two shots on goal.” The surgery is a window into how well the treatments worked, and we can now understand the degree or depth of response to treatment based on the resected surgical specimen.

Ms. D., a kindergarten teacher and grandmother with a history of smoking and high blood pressure, was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. The tumor measured 5 centimeters and was in her right upper lung. Based on initial imaging and testing, she was found to have involvement of one lymph node with lung cancer adjacent to the primary tumor. Given the size of her tumor and lymph node involvement, it was determined to be stage 3 lung cancer. After consulting with thoracic surgery, radiation oncology and medical oncology, she was deemed to have resectable disease. I explained to her that with resection alone, there was approximately a 75% chance that her cancer would recur over the ensuing five years and that by utilizing a perioperative approach of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, we could reduce the risk of recurrence dramatically. She opted to receive three months of chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery and tolerated treatment well overall.

Our first interval imaging revealed a significant reduction in the tumor size, and the previously enlarged lymph node was no longer visible.

Given her encouraging response to neoadjuvant therapy, she proceeded to the operating room, where she underwent a robotic resection of her right upper lobe and sampling of her lymph nodes in the chest. We were very encouraged when the final pathology results showed that she had no evidence of any cancer present, known as a complete pathologic response. Clinical trials utilizing perioperative approaches with chemotherapy and immunotherapy have shown improvement in overall survival and have now become a standard of care in clinical practice.

Perioperative therapy represents a real step forward in patient care. This approach not only boosts survival rates but may also facilitate less extensive surgeries by reducing tumor size and burden, potentially improving surgical outcomes and recovery time for our patients.

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are not without side effects; these approaches should be discussed with your medical team. It is also important to note that some people diagnosed with lung cancer may not have deep responses to immunotherapy, such as people with a specific driver mutation (for example, EGFR). These patients may benefit more from targeted therapies. Therefore, it is critical to discuss these options with your health care team to craft the best personalized approach.

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Articles

Over the last two decades, lung cancer treatment has significantly evolved with the introduction of targeted therapies and immunotherapies, improving outcomes for patients, especially those with stage 4 cancer. Historically, early-stage lung cancer patients faced high recurrence rates post-surgery. Advances in systemic therapies, including perioperative approaches combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy, have shown promising results in reducing recurrence and improving survival. Personalized treatment plans are crucial, as responses to therapies can vary based on genetic factors. Perioperative therapy not only enhances survival but also potentially improves surgical outcomes.

Over the past 20 years, there have been dramatic advances in treatment options for people diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer

Dr. Joshua K. Sabari

Understanding the Importance of Biomarker Testing in Lung Cancer

Patient Advocate and Caregiver Shares Advocacy Journey in KRAS Cancers

Using AI to Improve Clinical Trial Access for Those With Lung Cancer

Perioperative Therapy in Resectable NSCLC: The Drive for a Cure

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