Morhaf Al Achkar, MD, PhD

Morhaf Al Achkar is a family medicine physician at UW Medicine who has been living with stage 4 lung cancer since 2016. Like many with the disease, he has a genetic type of lung cancer. He is an amazing advocate on resilience. He gathered 40 stories of inspiration that were published in the book, “Roads to Meaning and Resilience with Cancer.”
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. In 2019, alone, it is expected that 228,150 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer, and more than 142,670 will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.
While a significant proportion of patients with lung cancer are diagnosed at advanced stages and have a survival rate of a few months, there are glimmers of hope.
 Al Achkar has a type of lung cancer has responded to treatment with targeted therapy in the form of pills he takes everyday.
As a qualitative researcher, Al Achkar knew stage 4 lung cancer was a novel area of research. He said the need for such work is enormous as the experience of people with advanced lung cancer has been associated with stigma and blame.
He wanted to break that cycle and help anyone dealing with a serious illness as well as inspire those he describes “with the gift of health.”