{{Short description|American physician and oncologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Emil Frei III | image = Nci-vol-1838-300 Emil Frei.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|2|21|mf=yes}} | birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri | death_date = {{death date and age|2013|4|30|1924|2|21}} | death_place = Oak Park, Illinois | citizenship = United States | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = Cancer research | occupation = Physician | spouse = Elizabeth Smith (nurse), 1948-1986 (her death)<br> Adoria Brock, 1987-2009 (her death) | children = 5 | workplaces = National Cancer Institute<br /> MD Anderson Cancer Center<br />Dana–Farber Cancer Institute | alma_mater = Colgate University<br />Yale School of Medicine }} '''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.<ref>{{cite web|url=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 |title=Official biography |work=Dana–Farber Cancer Institute |access-date=13 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030938/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 |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>
== Early life and education == Frei was born in 1924 in St. Louis.<ref name=nyt_obit>{{cite news|last=Fox|first=Margalit|title=Emil Frei III, Who Put Cancer Cures in Reach, Dies at 89|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/science/emil-frei-iii-who-put-cancer-cures-in-reach-dies-at-89.html?hpw&_r=0|access-date=5 May 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 May 2013}}</ref> His mother nicknamed him Tom after Tom Sawyer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Holland |first=James F. |last2=Freireich |first2=Emil J. |date=2013-10-20 |title=Emil Frei III, 1924-2013 |url=https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2013.51.8126 |journal=Journal of Clinical Oncology |language=en |volume=31 |issue=30 |pages=3727–3730 |doi=10.1200/JCO.2013.51.8126 |issn=0732-183X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His family owned the stained glass manufacturer Emil Frei & Associates.
He was inspired to study science after reading Hans Zinsser's book ''Rats, Lice and History''.<ref name=":0" /> Frei completed an accelerated pre-med Colgate University in 1944 after only 2 years of study<ref name="cancerres.aacrjournals.org">{{cite web |url=http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/73/15/4597 |title = Emil Frei III, MD: In Memoriam (1924–2013) {{!}} Cancer Research}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://science.education.nih.gov/animalresearch.nsf/ResearcherName/Emil+Frei+III#Q1 |title=Emil Frei III |work=Animals in Research |publisher=National Institutes of Health |access-date=13 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030220536/http://science.education.nih.gov/AnimalResearch.nsf/ResearcherName/Emil+Frei+III |archive-date=30 October 2011 }}</ref> His groundbreaking research into then-controversial combination chemotherapy, including the VAMP regimen, earned him many awards.<ref name="cancerres.aacrjournals.org"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Emperor of All Maladies|last=Mukherjee|first=Siddhartha|publisher=Scribbler|year=2011|location=NY|pages=139–142}}</ref>
He coauthored ''Holland–Frei Cancer Medicine'' with James F. Holland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James F. Holland, physician who helped show chemotherapy could treat cancer, dies at 92 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/james-f-holland-physician-who-helped-show-chemotherapy-could-treat-cancer-dies-at-92/2018/03/25/07817398-3038-11e8-8bdd-cdb33a5eef83_story.html |website=The Washington Post}}</ref>
===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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.calgb.org/Public/about/history.php|title=History of CALGB|access-date=2013-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907110944/https://www.calgb.org/Public/about/history.php|archive-date=2015-09-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertino |first1=Joseph R. |title=Editorial: A journal for Oncologists |journal=Journal of Clinical Oncology |date=1983 |volume=1|issue=1 |page=1 |doi=10.1200/JCO.1983.1.1.1 |url=http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/1/1/1.full.pdf+html|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Recognition== thumb|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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://irp.nih.gov/about-us/honors/lasker-award|title=Lasker Award|work=National Institutes of Health|access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utmda/00038/mda-00038.html|title=Biographical note: Emil Frei, III|work=Making Cancer History Voices Collection|publisher=University of Texas Archival Resources Online|access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref>
* 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<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref> * 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.<ref name=nyt_obit/>
==See also== * History of cancer chemotherapy
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == *[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utmda/00038/mda-00038.html Interview with Emil Frei] for the ''Making Cancer History Voices Collection'' at the University of Texas
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frei, Emil}} Category:1924 births Category:2013 deaths Category:American cancer researchers Category:Colgate University alumni Category:Harvard Medical School faculty Category:Medical doctors from St. Louis Category:Yale School of Medicine alumni Category:Recipients of the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Category:20th-century American medical doctors