Jerry Shay

Jerry Shay has been instrumental in translating telomere biology into cancer therapeutics, particularly through the development and clinical advancement of imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor now approved for myelodysplastic syndromes and myelofibrosis. His decades of work establishing telomerase as a nearly universal cancer target laid the foundation for telomerase-directed therapies. He has developed critical assays for measuring telomerase activity and telomere length in clinical settings.