IEA Radon_Reporter_April 2025

4 | APRIL 2025 LUNG CANCER A Gentle Nudge That Can Save Your Life Zan Jones, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Radonova, Inc. Dr. Chivonne Harrigal is a board-certified radiologist who specializes in cancer imaging. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2005, followed by a radiology residency and fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine where she served as a chief resident. However, it wasn’t until 4 years ago when she attended a Nevada Cancer Coalition meeting that she learned that radon is a risk factor for lung cancer. This prompted her to test her own home for radon and have it mitigated. Then, when she learned that her state of Nevada had the lowest lung cancer screening rate in the United States, it motivated her to take action beyond her own home. Approximately 4.5% of eligible high-risk people in the U.S. get screened for lung cancer. Nevada’s rate was only 1.4%, one of the lowest in the country. This troubled Dr. Harrigal and caused her to dig deeper as to why. “What we found is that Nevada is very spread-out geographically and all of the lung screening centers in our state were in just two cities, Reno and Las Vegas. Many people who live hours away from these cities weren’t able or willing to travel this far to get a 5-minute screening test.” In the last three years Nevada has worked to add more lung screening centers, which includes using existing CT machines to perform this exam, especially in rural communities to improve access. Radonova attended presentations by Dr. Harrigal this year at the EPA Tri-Regional Radon Stakeholders meeting in Reno, Nevada and the Indoor Environments Association International Symposium in Orlando, Florida. Her compelling speeches led us to interview her for this article. Dr. Harrigal divides saving lives from lung cancer into four categories: Prevention Most people know that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, but many don’t know that radon is the number two cause of lung cancer. Additionally, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers. Testing your home for radon and having it mitigated if levels are high can prevent radon-induced lung cancer.