Harnessing The Arts To Upstage Lung Cancer – Our story of advocacy, artistry, and action

HOST:  Hildy Grossman, CO-HOST: Jordan Rich GUEST: Sumati Ram-Mohan, Vice President of Upstage Lung Cancer Why did singer and cabaret performer Hildy Grossman launch Upstage Lung Cancer 18 years ago? In this episode, Hildy describes how a fluke accident resulted in early detection of her lung cancer and put her on a life-changing path. When faced with an early diagnosis, Hildy didn’t just ask "Why me?"—she asked, "What now?" She realized that while anyone with lungs can get lung cancer, not everyone has a stage to fight it. Thus, Upstage Lung Cancer was created as the only lung cancer organization to exclusively produce concerts and the performing arts to raise awareness, reduce stigma and fund cutting edge medical research. In a meeting of Art & Science, our guest, Sumati Ram-Mohan, a scientist and dancer, shares her story of how and why she reached out to Hildy. Now the Vice President of Upstage Lung Cancer, Sumati discusses how her experience in lung research and her passion for the stage help move this organization forward. Among other things, this podcast series, now ranked in the top 5 out of 40 lung cancer podcasts, was created to be both engaging, enjoyable and informative. They discuss almost two decades of outreach and impact, ending with a look ahead to this year's Fall Concert – an evening of joy aimed at this difficult disease. We thank our sponsors Lilly, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Revolution Medicines, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Takeda for their generous support of our podcast series Backstage @ Upstage.