Clinical Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

For more than three decades, Dr. Steven Burton practiced oncology in a way that never let the science eclipse the person in front of him. As a Clinical Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a fixture at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, he shaped the education of the physicians who would go on to treat the next generation of cancer patients, all while carrying his own patient load with the same care he asked of his students. He retired in December 2025, closing out a career defined by patient-centered medicine long before that phrase became a standard to aspire to.

A cancer diagnosis is easier to face when the physician treating you sees a whole person, not just a diagnosis to manage. That is the conviction Dr. Burton carried into every exam room and every classroom for thirty years, and it is why Libby's Lungs is proud to honor Dr. Steven Burton with the 2026 Libby Do Award.em description

Oncology Nurse Practitioner | Libby's Lungs Board Member

Before Stephanie Kaiser was a member of the Libby's Lungs Board of Directors, she was Elizabeth's oncology nurse practitioner, one of the people who walked alongside Elizabeth and Sven through nearly every appointment, every scan, and every hard conversation that came with a lung cancer diagnosis. She brought clinical expertise and an unmistakable warmth to that role, and the bond she built with Elizabeth didn't end when Elizabeth's fight did. It became one of the foundations this organization was built on.

Stephanie was honored with the Libby Do Award as a surprise, voted on by the Board without her knowledge, a fitting tribute to someone who has spent her career giving to patients without expecting recognition in return. Libby's Lungs is proud to celebrate Stephanie Kaiser not only as a board member helping carry this mission forward, but as the nurse practitioner who helped carry Elizabeth through hers.

Clinical Nurse Educator, Ipsen | Former Program Manager, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Annette Quinn's career spans more than two decades of advancing cancer care, patient education, and clinical excellence. For over 20 years, she served as a Program Manager at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, helping shape the patient-centered programs and multidisciplinary teams that strengthened the educational infrastructure of one of the nation's leading cancer centers. Today, as a Clinical Nurse Educator with Ipsen, an Oncology Certified Nurse with a master's degree in nursing education from Duquesne University, she supports oncology teams nationally and continues to elevate patient outcomes and professional practice on a broader scale.

A cancer diagnosis is not just a medical event but a hundred small moments where a patient needs the people around them to have already thought about what they'll need. Annette Quinn built her career around that idea, touching thousands of patients and clinicians long before most of them ever knew her name, and it is why Libby's Lungs is proud to honor Annette Quinn with the 2026 Libby Do Award.

Medical Oncologist & Hematologist, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Shortly after Elizabeth received her diagnosis in the fall of 2016, her oncologist Dr. Daniel Petro offered her a piece of advice that would shape the next seven years of her life, and ultimately the soul of Libby's Lungs itself: keep making memories.

Those words were not a concession. They were a prescription, one that understood Elizabeth as a whole person, not just a patient.

Dr. Petro walked alongside Elizabeth and Sven for nearly seven years, through ALK inhibitors and MET amplification, through brain lesions and fractured vertebrae, through chemotherapy and targeted therapies, through every turn of a journey that tested everyone who loved her. He did not just treat her cancer. He treated her.

A specialist in thoracic malignancies with deep involvement in Phase I clinical trials, Dr. Petro brings a multidisciplinary approach to oncology that reflects his belief that no single path is ever the only path — a belief Elizabeth shared completely. He is board-certified in hematology, medical oncology, and internal medicine, and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society of Hematology.

Sven has expressed that words cannot fully capture the gratitude he and Elizabeth felt for Dr. Petro for the care he provided, the bond they formed, and the friendship that grew from nearly seven years of fighting alongside one another. The Libby Do Award exists because of people like Dr. Petro, those who see past the diagnosis to the person, and who fight as hard for their patients' lives as their patients fight for themselves.

Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh | Member, Cancer Biology Program, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

Dr. Stabile has dedicated her career to a question that too few researchers have taken seriously: why does lung cancer disproportionately affect women, including women who have never smoked? Her laboratory at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center investigates the role of hormonal signaling, environmental exposures, and oncogene-driven tumor progression, including the MET alterations that shaped Elizabeth's own cancer journey. A major focus of her work is brain metastasis, one of the most challenging complications of advanced lung cancer, and developing non-invasive tools to detect and target it earlier.

Dr. Stabile does not wait for answers to come to her. She builds the research infrastructure to find them. Libby's Lungs has been proud to provide funding for her work, and there is no more fitting inaugural recipient of this award than the scientist who embodies its spirit most completely.