From left are Amy Sams; Michele Saysana, MD; Kelvin Lee, MD; Nasser Hanna, MD; John Wood; Virginia Caine, MD; Nichole Wilson and Jami Marsh attending a ribbon cutting for the mobile health unit on Tuesday, March 4. Photo by Mika Mokko, IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s first mobile lung screening program, which includes a 40-foot truck with a CT scanner, is bringing life-saving lung screenings directly to Hoosiers across the state. The program, launched Tuesday, March 4, will offer a convenient and accessible way to detect lung cancer early, when it is most treatable.

A collaborative partnership between the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and IU Health, the mobile lung screening program launched today with a ribbon-cutting celebration at Tom Wood Aviation in Fishers. The program was made possible by a gift from the Tom and Julie Wood Family Foundation to the cancer center and IU Health Foundation that was doubled through matching funds from IU Health.

The program will begin screening eligible high-risk Hoosiers immediately with scheduled stops this month in Blackford, Jay and Bartholomew counties. The program will then head to Clark, Ohio and Hancock counties in April. With care provided by IU Health, the mobile unit will provide approximately 2,000 scans this year with the program coordinating follow-up care for patients within their local communities.

“Make no mistake, this mobile lung screening program will save lives and save dreams. We know that we can significantly reduce mortality by diagnosing lung cancer early,” Dr. Nasser Hanna said. “Thanks to the generosity of the Wood family, we are making ongoing progress against lung cancer and bringing life-saving screening to Hoosiers across the state.”

Hanna is the Tom and Julie Wood Family Foundation professor of lung cancer clinical research at IU School of Medicine and the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the screening program director at IU Health. He is a lung cancer physician and founder of End Lung Cancer Now, an initiative at the cancer center that is leading outreach and education initiatives to connect the mobile program to local communities across the state.

“We are eager to bring life-saving lung screenings directly to communities across Indiana through the state’s first mobile lung screening program,” said Michele Saysana, MD, interim president of the IU Health Metro Region, which includes IU Health Methodist and University hospitals. “By reducing barriers to care and expanding access to early detection, this initiative reflects our unwavering commitment to improving health outcomes for Hoosiers throughout the state.”

Julie Wood said funding for the program is among a series of gifts made in memory of her late husband, Indianapolis auto executive Tom Wood, who died of lung cancer in 2010. Most recently, a $20 million gift established the Tom and Julie Wood Center for Lung Cancer Research at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“We know Tom would be so proud of today’s launch of the mobile lung cancer screening program and its directive to save more Hoosiers from this terrible disease,” she said. “As longtime supporters of the cancer center, we are immensely grateful to be a part of this effort to eradicate lung cancer.”

Early Detection Of Lung Cancer Saves Lives

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, killing more people than colorectal, breast and prostate cancer — the second-, third- and fourth-deadliest cancers — combined. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death.

However, with early detection through low-dose CAT or CT scans, lung cancer’s mortality rate can be decreased by 20%. Screenings are painless and take only a few minutes. In Indiana, 16.9% of those at high risk were screened, according to 2024 data from the American Lung Association.

Annual lung cancer screenings are recommended for adults ages 50 to 80 with a smoking history of at least 20 pack-years and who smoke now or quit within the past 15 years.

A pack-year describes how many cigarettes a person has smoked in their lifetime at 20 cigarettes per pack. For example, smoking an average of one pack per day for 20 years equals 20 pack-years. Smoking an average of two packs per day for 10 years also equals 20 pack-years.