OUR MISSION

At North Jersey Radiation Oncology, our mission is to inform, treat, and guide our patients through the treatment of cancer with compassion while improving and extending their quality of life.

Cancer is the most curable of all chronic diseases. The National Institute of Health
has determined that 74% of all major cancers are now curable--that means restoring a patient to their original life expectancy. With the latest treatment paradigms in a state of the art facility, we strive to uphold this high standard and more.

We offer state of the art, cutting edge technology, including:

CANCER TYPES

CANCER INFORMATION

The following web sites offer comprehensive information to help patients and
their families:

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  Our nation’s principal agency for cancer research and training, NCI is a component of the National Institutes of Health, providing comprehensive information about all types of cancer and about national cancer clinical research trials.
  
• Cancer Information Service (CIS)
  A free public service sponsored by NCI, the CIS provides the latest and most accurate cancer information for patients, families, health care professionals and the general public.
• American Cancer Society (ACS)
  A nation-wide, regionally-based health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, and advocacy.
  
• National Coalition For Cancer Survivorship (NCSS)
  The oldest survivor-led advocacy organization in the nation, advocating for quality cancer care for all Americans and empowering cancer survivors.
  

Dr. Thomas Herskovic is a Board Certified physician specializing in Radiation Oncology. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Herskovic holds a bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Maryland Medical School. Early in his career, Dr. Herskovic learned about the good works of the American Cancer Society, as he was funded during his training at New York Medical Center by the organization. His career was shaped during his internship at Long Beach Memorial Hospital in California, a major center of surgical radioisotope implantation and Radiation Oncology.

Before becoming the first full time radiation oncologist at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey, Dr. Herskovic was associated with the New York Medical College as an assistant professor. He initiated and supervised the first high dose rate afterloading service in New Jersey with over 6,000 radiation implants since 1987. The robotic device for delivering intensive radiation was displayed at the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology. As a co-investigator in a FDA approved clinical trial, he and Dr. Michael Pereira initiated, together with Dr. Arnold Rubin, a monoclonal antibody radioimmunodiagnostic therapy service in 1992, which ultimately treated over 125 patients and helped to develop new therapeutic agent for lymphoma and solid tumors. That trial anticipated the drugs Bexxar and Zevlin.

Dr. Herskovic is a member of the monthly Tumor Board at HRMC, and has served as Chairman of the weekly Tumor Board at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He also served as the Chairman of the Cancer Committee Tumor Registry. Dr. Herskovic is also the Director of Radiation Oncology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson and Wayne, N.J.

Dr. Herskovic’s academic interests have included presentations & publications concerned with the use of high dose rate afterloading implants both intracavitary and interstitial to treat lung and cervical cancer, the benefit of high dose radiation schedules for treatment of spinal cord compression by tumor, radiation complications in GYN treatment, and the treatment of solid tumors with monoclonal antibody guided radioisotopes. Dr Sol Liss, an inventor of a FDA approved device using microcurrents to manage pain, anxiety, depression, and spasm, joined the department for many years to jointly treat patients. Dr Herskovic was President of the New Jersey Academy of Medicine Radiation Oncology Chapter 1989-90.

Most recently, Drs Herskovic and Pereira have gleaned from their 60 years of practice a philosophy that cancer can sometimes be converted into something more approaching a chronic disease if the will and imagination are there.

Devoted to a philosophy he shares with the American Cancer Society, Dr. Herskovic believes that there is more in giving than receiving.

Michael Pereira, M.D.
Undergraduate: University of Bombay, India
M.D. Degree: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, UK
Residency: Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, UK, Queens University, Canada
Fellowship: FRCS (Edinburgh), FRCS (Glasgow,) FRCP (Canada), FRCR (USA)
Board Certification: Gen Surgery and Orthopedics (UK)
Radiation Oncology (Canada, USA)

Dr. Michael Pereira is a Board Certified Cancer Specialist and Radiation Oncologist who has worked in the field of oncology for the past twenty five years in research, teaching, and clinical practice. After obtaining a double FRCS in the United Kingdom in general surgery and orthopaedics, Dr. Pereira obtained his fellowship and Board Certification in Radiation Oncology and Implant Brachytherapy in Ottawa, Canada, and the United States.

In partnership with Dr. Thomas Herskovic for 25 years, their practice includes a full service adult and pediatric Radiation Medicine Department specializing in interstitial and intracavitary radiation implant brachytherapy, intensity modulated and three dimensional external beam radiation, intracoronary and renal dialysis access brachytherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, monoclonal antibody guided radiation treatment and total body radiation for bone marrow and stem cell transplants. He embodies the conviction of the National Institute of Health that radiation equates with surgery in the curative management of cancer. In fact, Dr. Pereira and Dr. Herskovic pioneered the use of implantation treatment of outpatient female cancers and monoclonal antibody radiation. Together they have published various articles.

Dr. Pereira’s academic interests have included publications concerned with the use of high dose afterloading to treat cervical cancer, radiation complications in GYN treatment, and the treatment of solid tumors with monoclonal antibody guided radiation.

For nearly twenty years, Dr. Pereira has been actively involved with the American Cancer Society through his service, teaching, and fundraising efforts. The Society’s leadership and dedication in advancing the goals of the ACS truly makes a difference in the comfort, cure and rehabilitation of this disease, which today is a diagnosis, not a death sentence. Drs. Pereira and Herskovic have been named “Man of the Year” by the American Cancer Society. The National Institute of Health has declared that the cancer survival rate has risen from 65% to 71% and that 62% of all major cancers are cured, i.e. patients are restored to their original life expectancy. Indeed, cancer has become the most curable of all chronic diseases.

Dr. Pereira is currently the Director of Radiation Oncology at the Joan Knechel Cancer Center at Hackettstown Regional Medical Center.