Stephen S. Hecht, PhD
Stephen S. Hecht, PhD
Wallin Professor of Cancer Prevention and American Cancer Society Research Professor
Head
Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program
The Cancer Center
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Stephen Hecht is an internationally recognized expert on carcinogens in tobacco and the pathways by which they cause cancer. He is the co-discoverer, with Dietrich Hoffmann, PhD, of tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are human carcinogens specific to tobacco products. He received the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health from the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in 2001 and the Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor Award of 2002 from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute. The depth and breadth of his work has made him the most cited author in tobacco carcinogenesis for the period 1980-2004. Steve presently holds a Merit Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and was previously the recipient of an Outstanding Investigator Grant from the NCI. In 2000, he was named an American Cancer Society Research Professor, one of about 40 in the US.
He received his BS degree in chemistry from Duke University and his PhD degree in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also did postdoctoral research in mass spectrometry. Prior to moving to the University of Minnesota in 1996, he conducted research at the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, NY for 23 years, and was its Director of Research from 1987-1996.
Steve’s research focuses on the identification of those individuals who would be most susceptible to the cancer-causing effects of tobacco products. The goal of this research is to target those individuals using preventive strategies, such as education and smoking cessation. His laboratory develops biomarkers to help identify these susceptible individuals. The biomarkers are also useful in determining exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand tobacco smoke and in evaluating new tobacco products purported to be less harmful. Research from Steve’s laboratory has had a major impact on the confirmation of secondhand tobacco smoke as a cause of lung cancer and the drafting and passage of the resulting clean indoor air laws, which are critical in tobacco control. Another avenue of research in Steve's laboratory is the identification and development of naturally occurring chemopreventive agents. Current work in this area involves compounds that occur in cruciferous vegetables, nuts, and fruit. These compounds are very effective in preventing lung or esophageal cancer in animal models that use tobacco carcinogens. Phase II studies to evaluate their efficacy in smokers and ex-smokers are planned.
Steve has served on several International Agency for Research on Cancer committees for the Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, including Smokeless Tobacco and Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines, 2004; Tobacco Smoking and Involuntary Smoking, 2002; and Betel Quid and Areca Nut, 2003, as chairman. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Surgeon General’s Report on Passive Smoking and Health, and is the chapter editor for cancer in the upcoming Surgeon General’s Report on How Tobacco Causes Diseases. He has served on numerous government and international committees, including NCI’s Board of Scientific Counselors (2001-2004 and 1989-1995), the National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors (1997-2001), and the National Center for Toxicological Research Science Advisory Board (1998-2002). He was a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chemical Pathology Study Section (1981-1985) and the American Cancer Society Peer Review Committee on Carcinogenesis, Nutrition, and the Environment (1998-2001; chair, 2001) and is currently chair of the NIH Chemo/Dietary Prevention Study Section.
Steve is a senior editor of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including Carcinogenesis and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. He is active in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) where he has served on program committees for national and specialized meetings, and on the steering committee of the Chemistry in Cancer Research Working Group. He has authored/co-authored more than 590 publications.
Steve is married to Sharon E. Murphy, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, and Co-Director of the Biomarkers Core of the University of Minnesota Transdiscuplinary Tobacco Use Research Center. They have two children, Charlotte, age 12, and Mei, age 6, and live in St. Paul. Steve is also an avid runner, tennis player, and Boston Red Sox fan.
