Dr. Stephen Lam

Stephen Lam MD, FRCPC is Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Distinguished Scientist, the Leon Judah Blackmore Chair in lung cancer research and MDS-Rix endowed director of translation lung cancer research at the BC Cancer Research Center. He chairs the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Screening Network. He has published over 290 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. He was the recipient of the IASLC Joseph Cullen Award for life-time scientific achievements in lung cancer prevention research, the Friesen Rygiel Award for Outstanding Canadian Academic Discovery, the Gustav Killian Medal by the World Association of Bronchology for pioneering contributions to the field early lung cancer diagnosis, as well as the Killam Research Prize in Applied Sciences and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Lam received his medical training at the University of Toronto. He joined the UBC Faculty of Medicine in 1979 and BC Cancer in 1984.

Current Research Focus

Dr. Lam’s research focuses on early detection and chemoprevention of lung cancer. His long-term goal is to translate scientific research in lung cancer screening to implementation at the population level and to improve lung cancer outcome. He is currently the PI of the International Lung Screen Trial involving Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Spain. He and his colleagues in the Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study Network have developed and prospectively validated a web-based lung cancer risk prediction tool to identify smokers at sufficient risk for screening with low dose CT and to evaluate the incremental value of blood and exhaled breath biomarkers. A highly accurate lung nodule malignancy risk calculator was developed to estimate the likelihood of lung cancer to guide management. He is part of a team to use radiomics and deep learning tools to address the important issue of screening interval and duration.

Example Project

 “The Terry Fox Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study”: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide. The five-year survival rate for patients with lung cancer is currently <18% because most cases are found when patients become symptomatic with advanced incurable disease. However, the dismal outcome can be changed by detecting and treating lung cancer early with low dose CT scan screening. The current proposal builds on the significant advances made by the Terry Fox Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study. An expanded lung cancer risk assessment tool will be developed to include outdoor and household air pollution as well as genetic susceptibility as risk factors. Advanced computer analytic imaging tools will be developed and applied to determine the likelihood of small lung nodules found on screening CT being cancerous to guide clinical management with the goal of improving efficiency and accuracy of reading large number of screening CT scans that will be generated in a screening program to decrease unnecessary imaging studies. The research will serve as the basis for cost-effective implementation of lung cancer screening programs.

Research Keywords

Lung Cancer, Cancer Screening, Diagnostic Imaging, Computerized Tomography