Unlocking Early Detection: How Long-Term Investment Is Changing What’s Possible in Pancreatic Cancer

WHY EARLY DETECTION IN PANCREATIC CANCER CAN’T WAIT

For decades, pancreatic cancer has been defined by late diagnosis and limited options. The disease often progresses silently and aggressively, with symptoms appearing only after it has advanced – when treatment options are few and outcomes are poor. Earlier detection remains our single greatest opportunity to change survival and save lives. 

This reality is beginning to shift, not by chance, but because of sustained, strategic investment in early detection and interception. For years, the Lustgarten Foundation has funded scientists willing to take on the hardest question in pancreatic cancer research: how do we find this disease before it becomes lethal? A commitment that is now yielding powerful insights and tools that were simply not possible a decade ago. 

SEEING CANCER BEFORE IT TAKES HOLD

One of the most transformative advances in early detection has come from studying pancreatic cancer before it is cancer.  

Lustgarten-funded investigator Laura Wood, MD, PhD, a leading pathologist and Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is reshaping how researchers understand the earliest steps of the disease. Her work focuses not on invasive tumors, but on the microscopic precancerous lesions that precede them.

Using advanced three-dimensional tissue reconstruction techniques supported by Lustgarten, Dr. Wood’s team has shown that these tiny precancers are far more common than once believed. Most adults harbor hundreds of them. Yet only a small fraction ever progress to cancer. 

This insight reframes the challenge entirely. The critical question is no longer whether precancers exist, but which ones are dangerous and why. By identifying the molecular and structural changes that drive progression and, just as importantly, the forces that keep most precancers in check, Dr. Wood’s work is laying the foundation for true cancer interception: stopping pancreatic cancer before surgery or chemotherapy are ever needed. 

TURNING MISSED IMAGES INTO MISSED OPPORTUNITIES NO MORE

While pathology reveals how pancreatic cancer begins, imaging shows where it hides.  

Elliot Fishman, MD, a pioneer in medical imaging and AI, is applying advanced computational tools to a long-standing problem: pancreatic tumors are often visible on scans months or even years before diagnosis but go unrecognized by the human eye.

Tens of millions of CT scans are performed each year for unrelated medical reasons. In hindsight, pancreatic cancers are frequently present on these images at a stage when surgery could be curative. Dr. Fishman’s work uses AI and radiomics to analyze subtle patterns, textures, and structural changes in the pancreas that radiologists cannot reliably detect. 

In Lustgarten-supported studies, these AI-driven models have achieved accuracy rates exceeding 90 percent for identifying small, potentially curable tumors. Even more promising, the technology can flag risk rather than just tumors, identifying early tissue changes that may signal cancer years before symptoms appear. 

As Dr. Fishman often notes, the information has always been there. Now, for the first time, we have the tools to see it. 

MOVING FASTER FROM DISCOVERY TO PATIENTS

Crucially, this progress is not happening in isolation. 

Lustgarten has deliberately built collaborations that bring together pathologists, radiologists, clinicians, engineers, and data scientists across institutions including Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and industry partners such as Microsoft AI for Good. The goal is urgent and clear: move discoveries from the lab into clinical use as quickly and responsibly as possible. 

This approach recognizes a hard truth. Innovation alone is not enough. New tools must be validated across populations, integrated into clinical workflows, and proven to improve outcomes. Lustgarten’s long-term support enables this translation, accelerating progress without sacrificing rigor or patient safety. 

WHY THIS MOMENT MATTERS

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers because it hides so well. That is precisely why early detection has been Lustgarten’s priority for years. 

Today, thanks to donor support, researchers can: 

• Identify precancerous changes at unprecedented resolution 
• Use AI to uncover cancers hidden in plain sight 
• Combine imaging, pathology, genetics, and clinical data to assess risk more accurately 
• Move closer to intercepting disease before it becomes life-threatening.

This is what sustained philanthropy makes possible. Not one-off breakthroughs, but a coordinated shift in what medicine can see, understand, and act upon. 

The future of pancreatic cancer will be defined by earlier answers, earlier action, and longer lives. Lustgarten donors are not waiting for that future. They are building it now. 

Watch Drs. Fishman and Wood discuss their groundbreaking research projects and the state of early detection efforts in pancreatic cancer research HERE.