Dr. Carolyn Dresler distinctly remembers learning about the dangers of tobacco in middle and high school around the time her grandmother died from lung cancer. Her parents smoked too, and she was afraid they would be next.

For the past 50 years, the retired thoracic surgeon dedicated herself to ending lung cancer and deaths from tobacco. But prevention is easier than a cure, she said.

“You only need to hold the hand of one person who’s dying of lung cancer that is angry at themselves. And I’...