A thoracic medical oncologist, Dr. Florez’s clinical interests focus on investigating the unique disease characteristics and survivorship issues faced by historically understudied communities with lung cancer, including women, young patients, and racial and ethnic minorities. In 2021, she pioneered the sexual health assessment in women with lung cancer study, the largest to date evaluating sexual dysfunction in women with lung cancer. She now leads other novel studies, including those pertaining to the psychosocial needs of young patients with lung cancer, diagnostic delays among women and young patients, sex differences in treatment tolerability, and the impact of cancer therapy on fertility. In 2022, Dr. Florez became the first ever Latina to hold an associate editor position in oncology as the associate editor for DEI at JAMA Oncology, and as chair of the 2023 and 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Dr. Florez displays her deep commitment to mentorship as founder of The Florez Lab, a research group focused on cancer health disparities and social justice issues in medicine, and as cofounder of #LatinasinMedicine, an X/Twitter community providing career advancement opportunities to Latinas in medicine.
