Avrum Spira

Dr. Avi Spira is making the world sit up and take notice. He is changing the way doctors handle patients at increased risk for lung cancer. After over a decade of grueling hours and painstaking persistence, Dr. Spira and his team have found a way to test the cells of a smoker’s or former smoker’s airway to determine if the patient is at risk for having or developing lung cancer. These cells are like a canary in a coal mine, Dr. Spira explained to the audiences of The Today Show and NBC Nightly News. “Though these were small studies and they are in the early days of the research, this test could represent a huge shift in the way doctors approach lung cancer care in the future.”