Biography:Emil Frei

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Short description: American physician and oncologist
Emil Frei III
Nci-vol-1838-300 Emil Frei.jpg
Born
St. Louis, Missouri
DiedApril 30, 2013(2013-04-30) (aged 89)
Oak Park, Illinois
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materColgate University
Yale School of Medicine
Known forCancer research
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Smith (nurse), 1948-1986 (her death)
Adoria Brock, 1987-2009 (her death)
Children5
Scientific career
InstitutionsNational Cancer Institute
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute

Emil "Tom" Frei III (February 21, 1924 – April 30, 2013) was an American physician and oncologist. He was the former director and former physician-in-chief of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts . He was also the Richard and Susan Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.[1]

Early life and education

Frei was born in 1924 in St. Louis.[2] His family owned the stained glass manufacturer Emil Frei & Associates. Frei completed an accelerated pre-med Colgate University in 1944 after only 2 years of study[3] and his medical degree from Yale University in 1948.

Career

He interned at Firmin Desloge Hospital, now St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri and served as a physician in the Korean War. He worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1955 to 1965 and the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from 1965 to 1972; while at M.D. Anderson he was the founding director of the Department of Development Therapeutics, which evolved into the Clinical Research Center. He served as physician-in-chief at the Dana-Farber Institute from 1972 to 1991. He is best known for his work on the treatment of lymphomas and childhood and adult leukemia.[4] His groundbreaking research into then-controversial combination chemotherapy, including the VAMP regimen, earned him many awards.[3][5]

He coauthored "Cancer Medicine" with Dr. James F. Holland.

Involvement in Cancer Cooperative Group Research

Frei was one of the founders of the Acute Leukemia Group B which later evolved into the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). He served as the group chair for 16 years, from 1956 to 1963, and again from 1981 to 1990.[6]

Journal of Clinical Oncology

He coined the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 1981, journal published first issue in 1983 in association with American Society of Clinical Oncology.[7]

Recognition

Dr. Emil Frei with Edna Jones in 1972

In 1972 he received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award from the Lasker Foundation "for his outstanding contribution in application of the concept of combination chemotherapy for lymphoma and acute adult leukemia."[8] Other awards included the Jeffrey A. Gottlieb Memorial Award (1978); NIH Distinguished Alumni Award (1990); Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999); Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research (2003); and AARC Lifetime Achievement Award (2004).[9]

  • 2013 Fellow of the AACR Academy
  • 2004 AACR Lifetime Achievement Award
  • 1999 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1997 Elected Member, Institute of Medicine
  • 1990 First NIH Distinguished Alumni Award
  • 1989 Armand Hammer Award
  • 1985 Hamao Umezawa Award, International Society of Chemotherapy, Infection and Cancer
  • 1983 Charles F. Kettering Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation
  • 1981 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[10]
  • 1980 Elected fellow of the American College of Physicians
  • 1972 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
  • 1971 President, AACR
  • 1968 President, American Society of Clinical Oncology

Death

Frei died of Parkinson's disease at his home in Oak Park, Illinois on April 30, 2013. He was 89.[2]

See also

References

  1. "Official biography". Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. http://researchers.dana-farber.org/directory/profile.asp?dbase=main&setsize=16&picture_id=0000013&grouptype_typeid_data=2&gs=r&nxtfmt=r&display=Y&oldurl=Y&try2=Y&pict_id=0000013. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fox, Margalit (4 May 2013). "Emil Frei III, Who Put Cancer Cures in Reach, Dies at 89". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/science/emil-frei-iii-who-put-cancer-cures-in-reach-dies-at-89.html?hpw&_r=0. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Emil Frei III, MD: In Memoriam (1924–2013) | Cancer Research". http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/73/15/4597. 
  4. "Emil Frei III". Animals in Research. National Institutes of Health. http://science.education.nih.gov/animalresearch.nsf/ResearcherName/Emil+Frei+III#Q1. 
  5. Mukherjee, Siddhartha (2011). The Emperor of All Maladies. NY: Scribbler. pp. 139–142. 
  6. "History of CALGB". https://www.calgb.org/Public/about/history.php. 
  7. Bertino, Joseph R. (1983). "Editorial: A journal for Oncologists". Journal of Clinical Oncology 1 (1): 1. doi:10.1200/JCO.1983.1.1.1. http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/1/1/1.full.pdf+html. 
  8. "Lasker Award". National Institutes of Health. http://irp.nih.gov/about-us/honors/lasker-award. 
  9. "Biographical note: Emil Frei, III". Making Cancer History Voices Collection. University of Texas Archival Resources Online. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utmda/00038/mda-00038.html. 
  10. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". American Academy of Achievement. https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration. 

External links