By Bernard S. Little WRNMMC Hospital Communications
“Nothing could have prepared me for this,” shared retired U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Mark J. Lenart about his 2025 lung cancer diagnosis.
A non-smoker, Lenart was one of the lung cancer survivors who spoke during the 2026 Murtha Cancer Center’s (MCC) Lung Cancer Summit on Feb. 3 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). The MCC is the Department of War’s only Center of Excellence for Cancer Care and Research and has annually hosted the lung cancer summit since 2012, aiming to advance the prevention, detection, and treatment of lung cancer, particularly for military service members, veterans, and their families.
Lenart said when he got the news of his diagnosis he was in self-denial and had trouble breathing, now knowing firsthand what many of his patients experienced. However, he was confident he would receive the best of care as a Military Health System beneficiary.
An anesthesiologist, Lenart stressed the importance of screenings. He was diagnosed following a physical and CT scan while assigned to 2nd Medical Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2024. “In retrospect, I was blessed by the family medical doctor who recommended the retirement physical that would be very thorough.”
The Walter Reed tumor board recommended surgery because of Lenart’s abnormal CT scans and later biopsy. He was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in situ, a pre-invasive, localized lung adenocarcinoma, and had surgery in November.
“I feel great now, very aware of lung cancer screening guidelines, and very thankful to be on this side of the whole episode,” Lenart shared.
A Navy nuclear submarine officer before going into Navy medicine, Lenart said his lung cancer may have been caused by his shipyard duty as a submarine driver and a subsequent deployment to Kandahar in Afghanistan, where open-air burn pits were used to dispose of waste, creating toxic smoke from burning trash, plastics, batteries, jet fuel, and other debris.
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Joel Nations agreed, adding, “We don’t know enough about lung cancer risks from burn pits, but there is a presumptive link [because of exposure].”
Nations, deputy chief of staff for operations at the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, was another speaker at the summit, this year held in conjunction with World Lung Cancer Day, observed annually Feb. 4.
U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Robert Browning Jr., medical director for interventional pulmonology at Walter Reed, explained World Cancer Day is observed to raise awareness, improve education, and inspire people to continue efforts in reducing the cancer burden through prevention, detection and treatment.
In 2023, Browning and his team at Walter Reed performed the first robotic bronchoscopy procedure in the Defense Health Agency, allowing precision lung biopsy and early lung cancer diagnosis.
Nations, a pulmonologist who while on active duty served as chief of medicine at Walter Reed, explained that several factors have been shown to contribute to the development of lung cancer, with smoking and exposure to environmental carcinogens being the most prevalent, including second-hand smoke, asbestos and diesel fuels.
He said that the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (PACT Act) of 2022 expands VA health care and benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
Other lung cancer risks factors include demographics, infections, structural and genetic, Nations said. “It is a common myth that only smokers get lung cancer. [However], military members have increased rates of smoking, deployments worsen smoking rates, and veterans have increased rates of smoking.”
“Prevention and early detection are important,” Nations added. He stressed increased emphasis on smoking cessation within the military community, explaining that the risk for lung cancer goes down once a person stops smoking, “but it never returns to zero.”
U.S. Public Health Service Cmdr. (Dr.) Gretchen Buckler, also a non-smoker recently diagnosed with lung cancer, shared her experience with the disease. She noticed crackles in her respiratory system, especially when she laughed, and increased coughing. According to the National Institutes of Health, crackles (or rales) can be a sign associated with lung cancer, often indicating that a tumor is causing obstruction, post-obstructive pneumonia, or fluid buildup. She had a chest X-ray and was referred to Walter Reed.
Buckler described the pulmonary oncology team at Walter Reed as “awesome.” She had a biopsy and was diagnosed with a primary non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer, accounting for roughly 85 percent of cases.
Buckler, chief of preventive medicine for the U.S. Coast Guards, also stressed the need to provide emotional care along with the physical treatment to patients and their families diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses because they also experience anxiety and depression.
Matthew Wilkerson, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics at the Uniformed Services University (USU), said lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death globally and accounts for 125,000 deaths in the U.S. annually.
“Military service members have 25 percent higher lung cancer risk compared to civilians, with 15 veterans dying daily from lung cancer. Military smoking rates, about 24 to 38 percent, are significantly higher than civilians, which is approximately 14 percent, with deployment increasing smoking by 50 percent,” Wilkerson added.
He said low-dose CT screening increases early detection and “non-invasive biomarkers could optimize treatment decisions and avoid unnecessary interventions.”
Dr. Shilpa Rungta, Department Head of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Walter Reed, and U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Edwin Gandia, a molecular genetic pathologist, explained “molecular testing is essential for modern lung cancer care. Cytopathology plays a critical role in minimally invasive diagnosis.”
“AI and emerging technologies will enhance capabilities, a multidisciplinary approach is crucial for success, and standardization across the MHS is important,” Rungta added.
U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Melissa Austin, WRNMMC director, said cancer care plays a critical role in military medical readiness at Walter Reed. She explained the cancer care provided at Walter Reed “keeps the medical team at the top of their skill sets and it is the most complex care” delivered at the medical center. She added these skills are critical in deployed settings where medical team needs to “think critically and at a high level and treat complex poly-trauma,” which come with cancer care.
Hospital Senior Enlisted Leader U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Matthew Johnson said he has personally experienced the impact of a cancer diagnosis has on readiness. He explained that cancer affects the deployability of service members and it can take service members away from their units for extended periods of time for treatment.