LUNGevity Names Maisha Standifer, PhD, MPH, LUNGevity Community Scholar-in-Residence

In a consultative role, Dr. Standifer will aid in the development and cultivation of new research partners

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LUNGevity Foundation, the nation's leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization, welcomes Maisha Standifer, PhD, MPH, as its first Community Scholar-in-Residence. In this new position, Dr. Standifer will help develop relationships with organizational, academic, and community-based research partners and will also be instrumental in executing LUNGevity's Annual Lung Cancer Health Equity Roundtable.

Dr. Standifer is currently the Director of Health Policy in the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine. She is also a co-investigator on multiple federally funded studies and a lecturer at Morehouse College and Emory University. In addition, as a lecturer at Morehouse College and Emory University, she serves as a public health policy analyst for several ongoing research studies on ethnic minority status as a social determinant of health for COVID-19 funded by the CDC and Kessler Foundation.

Before her role at Morehouse, she worked at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, where she was a research specialist, a program administrator, and a study investigator for research and development services.

"With 15 years of examining health inequalities both globally and domestically, Maisha will be a welcome addition to LUNGevity," explained Andrea Ferris, the foundation's president and CEO. "We look forward to benefiting from her leadership and expertise as we expand our efforts to ensure that all individuals with lung cancer benefit from the latest scientific advances."

Dr. Standifer received her BA in sociology at Spelman College, her MPH from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and a PhD in applied anthropology with a concentration in medical anthropology from the University of South Florida.

About LUNGevity

LUNGevity Foundation is the nation's leading lung cancer organization focused on improving outcomes for people with lung cancer through research, policy initiatives, education, support, and engagement for patients, survivors, and caregivers. LUNGevity seeks to make an immediate impact on quality of life and survivorship for everyone touched by the disease—while promoting health equity by addressing disparities throughout the care continuum. LUNGevity works tirelessly to advance research into early detection and more effective treatments, provide information and educational tools to empower patients and their caregivers, promote impactful public policy initiatives, and amplify the patient voice through research and engagement. The organization provides an active community for patients and survivors—and those who help them live longer and better lives. 

Comprehensive resources include a medically vetted and patient-centric website, a toll-free HELPLine for support, the International Lung Cancer Survivorship Conference, and an easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder, among other tools. All of these programs are to achieve our vision—a world where no one dies of lung cancer. LUNGevity Foundation is proud to be a four-star Charity Navigator organization.

Please visit LUNGevity.org to learn more. 

About Lung Cancer in the US

• About 1 in 17 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime.
• More than 236,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
• About 60%-65% of all new lung cancer diagnoses are among people who have never smoked or are former smokers.
• Lung cancer takes more lives than the next two deadliest cancers (colorectal and pancreatic) combined.
• Only 23% of all people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive 5 years or more, BUT if it's caught before it spreads, the chance of 5-year survival improves dramatically.

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SOURCE LUNGevity Foundation