Professor of Pharmacology

Dr Hersh is currently a Professor of Pharmacology/Oral Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He received his DMD degree from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine in 1981 and his MS and PhD degrees from Rutgers – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 1983 and 1988 respectively. Since arriving at the PENN in 1988, Dr Hersh has received the Dental School’s Excellence in the Teaching of Basic Science Award 23 different times. He was also a recipient of a University Lindback Award in 1993, the highest teaching honor in the entire University. He has published more than 175 scientific articles, abstracts and book chapters in the areas of dental pharmacology, drug interactions, analgesics and local anesthetics. His clinical research studies in the areas of acute postsurgical pain control and local anesthesia played an important role in the eventual FDA approval and marketing claims for such diverse products as 4% articaine plus 1:200,000 epinephrine (Septocaine 1:200,000), phentolamine mesylate (Oraverse), the lidocaine transmucosal patch (Dentipatch), diclofenac Prosorb (Zipsor), and ibuprofen Liquigels (Advil Liquigels). In 2007, the International Association of Dental Research recognized his scholarly and research contributions, with the presentation of the Distinguished Scientist Award in Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology. His is currently collaborating with Dr Katherine Theken who he recruited from PENN Medicine in identifying biomarkers that may predict an individual’s analgesic response to NSAIDs. He remains passionate about providing students and practitioners with evidence-based data to reduce the unnecessary use of, and when needed the prescribing of excessive amounts of immediate-release opioid formulations. Dr Hersh states, “That while the research accolades are nice, the most important thing I do is sharing this knowledge with my students and other dental professionals”.