Thomas N. Seyfried

Thomas N. Seyfried is an American professor of biology, genetics, and biochemistry at Boston College.

Education and early life

His father, William E. Seyfried, Sr., served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II and was president and founder of Capeway Paints in Brockton, Massachusetts. His brother William E. Seyfried, Jr. is a University of Minnesota professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Seyfried served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, receiving the Bronze Star, the Air Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.
Seyfried received his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1976. His postdoctoral fellowship studies were in the Department of Neurology at the Yale University School of Medicine where he served as an assistant professor in neurology. He did undergraduate work at the University of New England, formerly St. Francis College, and received a master's degree in genetics from Illinois State University, Normal.

His research focuses on mechanisms of chronic diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, neurodegenerative lipid storage diseases, and caloric restriction diets. He previously served as chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association. His 2012 book is Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer. Seyfried is a popular interview guest regarding the metabolic theory of cancer.
In podcast interviews Seyfried has claimed that radiation therapy and chemotherapy, which he compares to "medieval" treatments, can only marginally improve life expectancy by 1-2 months for cancer patients, with Seyfried advocating that cancer patients adopt a ketogenic diet. Seyfried's claims about the effectiveness of conventional cancer treatments are not supported by scientific evidence, and other medical professionals have said there is insufficient evidence that ketogenic diets are effective treatments for cancer. In his peer-reviewed scientific publications, Seyfried has argued that dose-adjusted chemotherapy and radiation should be integrated into ketogenic metabolic therapy.