January 2026
Volume 1, No. 1

As we welcome 2026, our team is pleased to announce the first issue of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers’ e-newsletter. This biannual newsletter will give an overview of the Center’s latest activities, research updates, resources available to patients and caregivers, community members’ stories, and more.

The past year has been a busy one for Center faculty and colleagues in Dana-Farber's Thoracic Oncology Program. Center faculty attended and presented at over 18 conferences in 12 countries.

Wishing you a happy new year and looking forward to continuing our work to advance the field and connecting with you in the months ahead.

Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD
Director, Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Part of the Center's mission is clinician education. To this end, we hosted the first annual Chen-Huang Center Endowed Lectureship in August for faculty and staff from Dana-Farber and other hospitals. Dr. William Pao, a distinguished physician-scientist whose career has spanned academia, pharma, and biotechnology, spoke about his recent book Breakthrough: The quest for life-changing medicines, which includes a chapter on the discovery of treatments for EGFR mutant lung cancers. Drs. Pasi Jänne and Jia Luo, also a Dana-Farber thoracic oncologist, interviewed Dr. Pao about medical innovations to an audience of over 100 attendees.

Chen-Huang Center Nurse Practitioner Cathleen Power and Program Administrator Sitara Mahtani joined Team Lung Cancer at the Jimmy Fund Walk, Dana-Farber’s annual event to raise awareness and funds for cancer prevention, research, and care. Keep an eye out for Dana-Farber communications about the 2026 walk!

On November 17th, we hosted our fifth annual virtual patient and caregiver Forum. This event included research updates, tips for identifying health misinformation, strategies for handling skin-related side effects of common treatments, a talk on Supportive Oncology services available at Dana-Farber, patient presentations, and a Q&A session. Over 100 attendees joined the webinar from six countries.

Follow-up resources can be found below:

In September, Dr. Jänne received the Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona, Spain.

In October, at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin, Germany, Dr. Jänne presented the exciting results of a survival analysis in patients with EGFR mutant lung cancers from the FLAURA2 trial. A paper detailing these results and their potential implications was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on October 17th. The paper is entitled, "Survival with Osimertinib plus Chemotherapy in EGFR-Mutated Advanced NSCLC," and can be accessed on NEJM's website.

Patients and families are at the forefront of our mission, and we always appreciate hearing about their journeys through diagnosis and treatment, as well as about other meaningful parts of their lives. Patient Yueming and her son Justin, who is her caregiver, agreed to share their stories for this issue of the newsletter. Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Yueming, when were first diagnosed with EGFR mutant lung cancer? Briefly, what has been your treatment journey?

I was diagnosed in China in March 2018. I was first treated with chemotherapy in China, then I came to Dana Farber in July 2018. I received chemotherapy and a lung surgery at Dana-Farber in 2018. Since then, I have had a variety of treatments including radiation to my brain and spine and other chemotherapy and targeted therapy treatments. One of the treatments I received was a clinical trial of an oral targeted therapy that I was on for 4 years, from March 2019 to June 2023.  I have been on 5 different therapies since 2018.

Justin, what is something you would like new caregivers to know about the role?

It’s tough, but because of love, you don’t focus on whether it’s hard or not, you just keep going. You find ways to release the pressure and keep showing up with empathy and patience. Small actions matter: listening, explaining things calmly, and reassuring the patient they’re supported. These efforts make a huge difference. This journey becomes a time of profound growth for you as well.

What are some activities you two enjoy doing together?

We enjoy walking in a park or by the ocean, eating out, and going to supermarkets together.

If you are a patient or caregiver and would like to be featured in a future newsletter, please reach out to EGFRcenter@dfci.harvard.edu!

Chen-Huang Center: Tell us about your role at Dana-Farber. What are your areas of research?

Dr. Eric Zhou: I am a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of sleep disorders. Over the past 15 years, my research has focused on improving sleep health for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute patients.

Center: What are some common sleep-related challenges that cancer patients face?

Zhou: By some estimates, 1 in every 4 cancer survivors are struggling with insomnia disorder. Insomnia disorder is characterized by difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.

Center: Would you share a few practical steps patients can take on their own to improve their sleep/ practice sleep hygiene?

Zhou: An important question that a patient can ask themself is if they are in the right space to be able to work on their sleep. For some patients who are in the middle of treatment, with a lot going on medically, it may just not be the right moment. For many patients who are a few months or more past the active treatment period, it is possible that they consider prioritizing their long-term sleep health.

If someone is open to tackling sleep, the single most important recommendation I can provide is to get out of bed every day at the same time. It is typical for poor sleepers to try to get more sleep after a bad night, and so they may stay in bed longer. This consistency sets an important anchor for their circadian rhythm. They can enhance the impact of this anchor by getting consistent sunlight within 30 minutes of waking. Since this is New England, a light therapy box may be necessary for the winter months.

The 1b to the recommendation above is that everyone sleeps differently. We don’t all need the same number of hours of sleep, we don’t all need to sleep at the same time of day. If your sleep works for you, then don’t change a thing!

Check out this Sleep and Relaxation Toolkit from the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber:
https://myzakim.dana-farber.org/sleep-relaxation-toolkit

Tell us about your professional background and what led you to Dana-Farber.

I've been a nurse since 1998. I started out in oncology right from the beginning of my career. I used to be a chemo nurse then after earning my Nurse Practitioner degree in 2008, I joined the Dana-Farber lung cancer group. I have been working here ever since. When the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers was established in 2020, I started to focus primarily on this patient population.

What is your role in caring for patients with EGFR mutant lung cancers?

I work as part of an integrative team with doctors, nurses, and supportive care providers to help people manage their treatments and side effects from EGFR-directed therapies. I also help patients and caregivers understand the disease process and treatment options.

What is something you want new patients to know coming into your clinic?

I'd like my patients to know that there is a tremendous amount of research going on in the field of EGFR mutant lung cancer right now. In the sixteen years I've been seeing patients with lung cancer, I've seen many wonderful advances in treatments.

What is a fun fact about you?

My mom is a nurse, my two sisters are nurses, and about thirty nurses attended my wedding. I love being a nurse!

Questions or comments?
Reach out to us at EGFRcenter@dfci.harvard.edu.