A pilot project is being launched at a drug store in northeast Iowa which aims to raise the percentage of people who are getting screened for lung cancer, Iowa’s top cancer killer. Dr. Jill Kolesar, dean of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, hopes the Greenwood Pharmacy in Waterloo will be the first of many across the state where people who are at risk for lung cancer get tested for it.
The focus will be on people who are at least 50 years old and who’ve been smoking at least 20 years. The goal is to enroll 500 people in the first round of the study through Greenwood Pharmacy and Cedar Valley Family Medicine. The screening involves a simple blood test.
“What we’re trying to do is actually increase the rates of lung cancer screening,” Kolesar says. “Right now in Iowa, only about 20% of people who are eligible for lung cancer screening get it, so 80% of people who are eligible do not. What we’re trying to do with this study is to increase the number of people screened from 20% to 40%.”
The first-of-its-kind study is being backed by support from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. Kolesar says the goal is to eventually reach thousands of at-risk Iowans by integrating lung cancer screening into routine pharmacy visits.
“Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Iowa, and the incidence is actually rising, so it is very urgent that people who are candidates for lung cancer screening undergo that screening,” Kolesar says. “Early detection for lung cancer saves lives.”
The program is called CHAMP, for Community Health Assessment and Monitoring in the Pharmacy. Iowa received multiple “F” grades on the American Lung Association’s 2025 “State of Tobacco Control” report card. Iowa has the nation’s second-highest cancer rate, behind only Kentucky.
