In 2024, many authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.

Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspectives and insightful views as authors.

Outstanding Authors (2024)

William D. Figg, National Cancer Institute, USA

Grace K. Dy, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA

José María Hernández Pérez, University Hospital of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Spain

Andy Petroianu, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Hanan Goldberg, SUNY Upstate Medical University, USA

Outstanding Author

William D. Figg

Dr. Figg received a BS in Pharmacy from Samford University and a doctoral pharmacy degree from Auburn University. He completed a clinical internship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital and a fellowship in Drug Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also received an MBA from a combined Columbia University and London Business School program. He holds honorary degrees from Georgetown College and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Figg joined the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, in 1992. He is Chief of the GU Malignancy Branch and Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Program. He has over 875 peer-reviewed publications. He is an adjunct professor of Medicine at Columbia University in New York and adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. His research is focused on drug development of novel anticancer agents and prostate cancer. Connect with Dr. Figg on Twitter/X @WilliamFigg1.

The way Dr. Figg sees it, it is hard to differentiate between a good academic paper and simply good science. To him, an article that changes one’s view of biology, a mechanism, or alters clinical care will always be considered a good academic paper. Those are the seminal papers we remember.

“Joe Friday on the TV show Dragnet would say, ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’ That is what scientific writing is. Remove the superlatives and be as concise and direct as possible. However, it needs to be detailed enough for someone to repeat the experiment or for clinical papers to use in their practice,” says Dr. Figg.

(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)

Grace K. Dy

Dr. Grace K. Dy is a Professor of Oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY. She has served as principal investigator for numerous early phase I clinical trials testing novel therapeutics for advanced solid tumors, including phase II/III trials for advanced-stage thoracic malignancies. She earned her B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, graduating summa cum laude for both degrees. She subsequently completed her internal medicine residency and hematology-oncology fellowship training at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), where she was a recipient of the Oncology Outstanding Achievement Award and the William H.J. Summerskill Award. She is an active member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Speaking of the key skill sets of an author, Dr. Dy believes one must be able to distill the essence of concepts into clear and concise statements, yet also be able to shed insight into the nuances in the interpretation of information. Practice is the key. She adds that one must also be aware of the multiple sources of cognitive biases in order to avoid biases.

“With so much information freely available these days, unfortunately, misinformation and disinformation are rampant. My primary motivation to continue academic writing is to contribute our part as members of the scientific community in clarifying concepts and correct any misinterpretation of information,” says Dr. Dy.

(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)

José María Hernández Pérez

José María Hernández Pérez, PhD, MD, serves at the University Hospital of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. He has been working on alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency since 2006, publishing numerous publications on that subject. He is currently the National Coordinator of the Spanish Research Network on Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (REDAAT-www.redaat.es). His team has studied numerous aspects related to DAAT, examples of which are its relationship with exacerbations of bronchial asthma or survival in lung cancer, the role of less deficient genotypes in COPD or liver disease, as well as the discovery and description of new pathogenic variants. Connect with him on X @JoseMariaAlfa1.

The essential elements for a good-quality article, according to Dr. Hernández Pérez, are based on three points: an original idea based on a good physiopathological basis, a good methodology with a good representative sample of the topic to be discussed, and a good bibliographic review of the topic to be discussed. He believes it is important to try to be able to defend one’s findings and compare them with what has been written to date.

During the preparation of a paper, Dr. Hernández Pérez points out it is clear that the authors with the greatest prestige on the topic in question should be taken into account, but other authors with innovative ideas or ideas different from those usually presented should not be discarded. Using different authors’ opinions enriches the writer’s knowledge and the way of visualizing things.

“We published in TCR as we find it to be a serious, exhaustive, methodical journal that values original and innovative ideas on topics related to cancer. We were given the opportunity to present our ideas in the journal, and they were very well received. We would like to thank them for the opportunity,” says Dr. Hernández Pérez.

(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)

Andy Petroianu

Andy Petroianu, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Surgery at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He is a Free Docent in Surgical Technique at the Federal University of Sao Paulo and in Surgical Gastroenterology at the University of Sao Paulo. He is the Chief of a General Surgery Service at Santa Casa Hospital, Belo Horizonte. He is a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Medicine, Member of the Minas Gerais Academy of Medicine, and Emeritus Member of the Brazilian College of Surgeons. He received 112 awards, including Honorary Citizen of Belo Horizonte, Best Researcher by the National Academy of Medicine, Best Researcher, and Best Surgeon by the Brazilian College of Surgery.

Dr. Petroianu thinks academic writing is important because the whole evolution of humanity in all areas of knowledge was created by the dissemination of science. Since ancient times, human beings have needed to communicate everything they have created or discovered by accessible means. This dissemination has been preserved by public speeches, meetings with disciples, art on cave walls, house walls, and canvases, and writings on papyrus, scrolls, and paper. Today, authors also have electronic media and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Petroianu emphasizes that evaluating written work can help improve critical writing skills. There are three types of writing: literary, written to be appreciated by the general public; didactic, to be read as a learning lesson by those who know less than the author; and scientific, to be read and critically evaluated by those who know as much or more than the author.

“Several decades ago, I published various articles in order to divulge laparoscopic subtotal splenectomy, preserving only the upper pole supplied by the splenogastric vessels. One of the many stages of this procedure is hemostasis of the bleeding area with lidocaine gel burned over the vessels with the hook connected to the electrocautery. This burned gel makes a coating that occludes all the small vessels. This type of hemostasis can be used on all parenchymal organs and bones. I received much more contact to comment on this hemostasis than on the conservative spleen surgery. Sometimes what the authors consider to be secondary in their article can be essential for the reader and responsible for the greater publicity of their scientific paper,” says Dr. Petroianu.

(by Sasa Zhu, Brad Li)

Hanan Goldberg

Dr. Hanan Goldberg is an assistant professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. He received his medical degree from Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel, and his Master of Science from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. He completed his residency at the Urology Institute of Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva, Israel. He later completed a three-year fellowship in Uro-Oncology with the department of surgical oncology in the division of Urology at the Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. He is an active member in many international professional urological societies and is a reviewer for some of the most prestigious urological journals. His research focuses on urological cancer and specifically prostate cancer prevention and treatment. Connect with Dr. Goldberg on Twitter/X and LinkedIn.

A good academic paper, according to Dr. Goldberg, should affect current practice or raise an important question, showing data that might be hypothesis generating, and trigger curiosity. What’s more, the paper needs to be good from a methodologic perspective and the primary endpoint needs to be clear and clinically relevant.

Dr. Goldberg personally enjoys academic writing. To him, academic writing is fascinating as it is extremely interesting, and it often triggers more research and questions than answers. To ensure his own writing is innovative, he tries to read as much as he can to keep being up to date. He also tries to attend several uro-oncological meetings during the year to stay updated regarding the newest ongoing and published trials. In addition, he keeps talking to other clinician/scientists on a regular basis to learn from them and understand their unique perspective on a variety of relevant issues.

Dr. Goldberg further highlights the importance to follow reporting guidelines (e.g., STROBE, CONSORT, and CARE) during preparation of a paper. In his opinion, it allows authors to try to write standardized papers, and follow a set of guidelines, that enable the paper to be better understood by its readers.

(by Xing Liu, Brad Li)