Daniel L. Hertz

My goal is to improve cancer treatment outcomes by incorporating genetic information into medical decision-making.

I am particularly passionate about testing for DPYD before starting fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy, which could prevent tens of thousands of severe toxicities and about a thousand deaths per year in the USA. I am a member of Advocates for Universal DPD/DPYD Testing (AUDT), a non-profit organization comprised mostly of surviving family members of patients who died from being overdosed on fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy because they weren’t tested for DPYD.

Working with AUDT, our advocacy has led to changes in the FDA drug labels for fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy, statements from several national organizations supporting DPYD testing, and national news articles highlighting the preventable dangers of administering fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy without testing for DPYD.