A year ago, Dr. Suresh Ramalingam took the plenary stage at ASCO Annual Meeting to discuss incredible progress from his work on advanced lung cancer treatment. At the conclusion, he received a standing ovation.  

Now, with the 2025 Annual Meeting just around the corner, the Conquer Cancer grant recipient has been named to Time Magazine’s 2025 Time100 in Health list. First launched in 2024, the list recognizes the 100 most influential individuals from across the health field, from medicine and advocacy to education, research, policy, and more.  

"We are so honored to have played a role in supporting Dr. Ramalingam’s early work," said Conquer Cancer CEO Nancy Daly. "Outcomes like these are exactly why we do what we do: Invest in the careers of the brightest minds in cancer research. They give us hope for the incredible work being done by our funding recipients and confidence that every dollar raised has the potential to change and save lives around the world."

In 2006, Dr. Ramalingam received a Conquer Cancer Career Development Award for work focused on non-small cell lung cancer treatments. Lung cancer has long exemplified the urgent need for lifesaving cancer research, particularly in the U.S., where it’s the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death.  

Following nearly two decades of continued investigation and pursuit, Dr. Ramalingam’s efforts reached a pinnacle during the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, when he became the latest Conquer Cancer researcher to present groundbreaking research advances during the Plenary Session. 

Viewed by nearly all conference attendees, the Plenary Session is a major focal point of every ASCO Annual Meeting, providing a platform for physician-scientists to share the most promising studies in the field of oncology. Dr. Ramalingam took to the stage to present lifesaving highlights from his latest research. He also discussed the practice-changing results of the first-of-its-kind LAURA clinical trial. This study evaluated a promising drug following chemoradiotherapy in patients with a specific type of lung cancer, ultimately concluding that this treatment plan significantly improves progression-free survival for this group of patients. 

"There was a significant night-and-day difference in outcomes, and that has already resulted in [the Sept. 2024] FDA approval of osimertinib for Stage III disease” in people with these mutations whose cancers could not be surgically removed, Dr. Ramalingam told Time magazine. “To see a trial with this level of impact was truly a pleasant surprise for us."