Local Doctor and Lung Cancer Advocate Travels to Washington, D.C. to Tell her Mother’s Story and Urge Support Lifesaving Research and Public Health Funding

Harpswell, Maine resident and lung cancer advocate, Dr. Lizzie Baker, will travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with her members of Congress during the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE Advocacy Day on March 20. As a part of the nationwide event, Dr. Baker will join more than 40 other people across the country who have been impacted by lung cancer to ask lawmakers to support $51.3 billion in research funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $11.6 billion in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As a pediatric hospitalist, and cancer survivor herself, Dr. Baker is a long-time advocate for a range of public health issues. Baker acted as a caretaker for her mother, Candice Warren, during a 7-year-long battle with lung cancer.  During this time, Baker helped her mother through a range of treatments including chemotherapy, surgery, immunotherapy and other avenues available to extend her life.  Baker was by her mother’s side when she passed away in March 2022.

Baker said, “My mother and I were incredibly fortunate to have one another.  She was my best friend and will always be my ‘person.’  The original prognosis was 6 months, but she lived 7 amazing and full years with a diagnosis of stage IV cancer.  When she passed in March 2022, we were devastated but forever grateful for her journey and the opportunities afforded to her by current research and available treatments. It is now part of my life’s mission to carry on her legacy of bravery, generosity, and love by helping to further the treatments that prolonged our time together – and to help fund medical research that will hopefully, one day, eradicate lung cancer for good.”

In addition to caring for her mother, Dr. Baker joined the Trek Across Maine in 2019 to help raise funds and awareness for lung cancer. She’s also volunteered for the Dempsey Center, and been active with the Space to Breathe program, which hosts adolescents who have a sibling or parent with cancer for a weeklong camp focused on bonding and coping skills. In 2023, she competed for the title of Miss Maine for America Strong to expand her platform and raise awareness about lung cancer to a broader audience.

Baker, formerly of Freeport and Scarborough, has lived in Harpswell since 2020. A pediatric hospitalist, she holds a medical degree from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in healthcare leadership from Brown University. 

During Advocacy Day, Dr. Baker will visit the offices of Senator Angus King, Senator Susan Collins, Representative Chellie Pingree and Representative Jared Golden to share her story and her mother’s experience with lung cancer and explain why investments in public health and research funding are critical.

Thousands of LUNG FORCE Heroes from across the country have raised their voices since 2014 to urge their members of Congress in Washington, D.C., to support robust, sustainable and predictable federal funding increases for lung cancer research, prevention, as well as quality and affordable healthcare. LUNG FORCE Heroes have succeeded in helping increase NIH lung cancer research funding by over 130% since the inception of LUNG FORCE in 2014. NIH has also funded research that has led to new treatments that are saving lives today. Since 2016, over 50 new therapies have been approved by the FDA to treat lung cancer – giving life and hope to those impacted by this disease.

Dr. Baker encourages others in Maine to advocate for lung cancer research and healthcare protections by contacting their members of Congress, which they can do at Lung.org/AdvocacyDay. All are also welcome to join Dr. Baker on the Trek Across Maine, the American Lung Association’s premier 3-day Bike Trek event, this coming June 14-16 kicking off in Brunswick, Maine.

Learn more about Dr. Lizzie Baker’s story and the LUNG FORCE initiative at LUNGFORCE.org.