A Focused Interview with Professor Jerome M. Hershman- A Well-Known Expert in Thyroid Cancer

Personal Introduction

Jerome M. Hershman, M.D., M.S., is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Director of the Endocrine Clinic at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, USA.

Professor Hershman received a B.S. in chemistry from Northwestern University, M.S. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and M.D. from the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago. He was a resident in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and the Boston VA Hospital and trained in endocrinology at the Tufts New England Medical Center. Professor Hershman was a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern University for 3 years, then at the University of Alabama in Birmingham for 5 years before moving to UCLA in 1972. He has authored over 350 research papers in endocrine literature and written 140 authoritative book chapters and reviews about thyroid function and disease. His current research focuses on the pathogenesis and management of thyroid cancer.

As one of the Associate Editors of Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment (JCMT) and the Guest Editor of the Special Issue “Mechanism and Treatment of Thyroid Cancer”, he makes great support and guidance to JCMT. We are fortunate to have invited Professor Hershman to talk about his current work and his opinions on the thyroid cancer field on July 26, 2021.

The interview was in the form of questions from the Editorial Office (Q) and answers from Professor Jerome M. Hershman (A). Here are the details of the interview:

Q1: Could you please briefly introduce your current interested research direction?

A1 (Key points): One area that I’m interested in is the possibility (of) pesticides, which are used extensively, and which can cause a DNA damage that might lead to a mutation result in cancer. Our responsible for some of the thyroid cancers, we know that external radiation, is a source of thyroid cancer, but radiation directly on thyroid which was used in 1950s. It has backed in use now for 60 years perhaps at least. So, I don’t think radiation plays a significant role in causing thyroid cancer. But I do believe that chemical exposures can.  

Q2: As a well-known expert in the field of thyroid cancer, could you please provide some suggestions on the relevant research topics for young scholars?

A2 (Key points): I think that the more important works in my point of view is more basic research on pathogenesis thyroid cancer, and discovery pathways for developing potential new therapies for thyroid cancer. It’s a great deal of working the applied clinical oncology using (combination of) drugs for treating thyroid cancer.

Q3: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many researchers are facing severe challenges. How do you think the epidemic has affected scholars?

A3 (Key points): In regard to work at university laboratories, there was an impact that could have to delay the research between 6 to 12 months. Once they shut down laboratory, it takes several months to get to go in again. I think it’s a pandemic and it had a very negative effect on the basic research, translational research in universities.

After the above interview, we expressed our great gratitude to Professor Hershman. Presenting our sincere willingness to cooperate with him closely in the next future. We strongly believe that JCMT will definitely develop better under the professional guidance of Professor Hershman.

Respectfully submitted by the Editorial Office of Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment (JCMT)
 Written by Carl Zhou
 Assistant Editor of JCMT
Email: Carl.Zhou@jcmtjournal.com