Orange County Lung Summit 2026

Amy L. Cummings, MD, PhD, is a thoracic oncologist, physician-scientist, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she serves as Director of Lung Cancer Screening and Clinical Trial Access at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She is the founder of the California Lung Cancer Coalition (CLCC) and a leading force behind Healthy Lungs California, a statewide initiative working to improve lung cancer prevention, early detection, screening, and access to care across California.

Dr. Cummings' work spans early-stage lung cancer, precision medicine, clinical trials, biomarkers, and the use of clinical data and technology to improve cancer care.

Through Healthy Lungs California and CLCC, she brings together academic institutions, health systems, community organizations, advocates, and policymakers to address disparities in lung cancer screening and care, expand community-based education and screening programs, strengthen patient pathways, and advance policy and innovative approaches to early detection — with particular focus on reaching populations and communities that have historically experienced barriers to timely lung cancer screening and care.

Dr. Sweidan is a board-certified pulmonologist, critical care, and neurological critical care physician with advanced training in interventional pulmonary disease. He graduated magna cum laude from the Medical University Karola Marcinkowskiego, completed his internal medicine residency at UCLA–St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, and trained in pulmonary, critical care, neurological critical care, and interventional pulmonary at UC Irvine Medical Center.

His clinical philosophy centers on a holistic, patient-centered approach, recognizing that lung disease often intersects with cardiology, rheumatology, neurology, and gastroenterology. His interests include lung cancer, COPD, and pulmonary hypertension, with an emphasis on personalized care and multidisciplinary collaboration. He is fluent in English, Romanian, Spanish, and Polish.

Dr. Sweidan is active in research and academic medicine, with more than 100 poster presentations and 50+ peer-reviewed publications spanning pulmonary embolism, COVID-19, rare pulmonary diseases, and advanced ICU monitoring.

He volunteers regularly at an underserved clinic, providing primary and pulmonary care with a special focus on non-English-speaking populations. Outside of medicine, he enjoys time with his wife and children, chess, fitness, and soccer.

Aamna Akhtar is a project manager at City of Hope and a member of the Lung Justice and Equity (LJE) Lab led by Dr. Loretta Erhunmwunsee. The lab works to clarify the link between structural inequities and adverse social determinants of health and lung cancer outcomes, biology, and screening practices, and to change the narrative around why marginalized groups experience worse lung cancer outcomes. She contributes to research on lung cancer screening adherence and community outreach in Southern California, helping turn that research into practical, community-led outreach that reaches people earlier in the screening pathway.

Dr. Kohli offers advanced options for managing serious lung disease and critical illness, alongside conservative care that puts patient comfort first. He earned his MD at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed residency and fellowship at UC Irvine Medical Center. His clinical interests include lung disease, critical care, sleep disorders, minimally invasive diagnostic procedures, and palliative care, with a focus on building a lung nodule program that brings timely evaluation and treatment into the community practice setting.

Dr. Van Etten is a board-certified hematologist and oncologist who leads the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, directing more than 250 physicians and scientists conducting cancer research at UC Irvine. He holds an MD and PhD from Stanford, trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and has authored more than 150 scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters. As a physician-scientist, he has built research programs that move laboratory discoveries into clinical trials, and now guides the growth of cancer care and trial access across Orange County.