The Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, is honoring the late Dr. Saul Hertz, who 80 years ago today administered the first medical use of radio-iodine therapy to treat hyper-thyroidism. He then pioneered the use of targeted cancer therapies.
His daughter Barbara Hertz, who lives in Greenwich, said Dr. Hertz figured out that he could both diagnose and treat cancer using radio-iodine.
“I think he would be dancing in heaven that his vision of utilizing radioactive substances to diagnose and treat disease is, not only here in the United States, but is being used worldwide and has saved hundreds of hundreds of thousands of lives,” Barbara Hertz said.
Dr. Hertz died in 1950.
Besides today being declared “Dr. Saul Hertz Nuclear Medicine/RadioPharmaceutical” Day in Greenwich, where his papers are archived, Hertz is being honored with several “atomic cocktail” parties across the medical field.
