After many experimental challenges, Holland, Freireich, and Frei simultaneously administered methotrexate, vincristine, 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and prednisone, together referred to as the VAMP regimen, and induced long-term remissions in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). With incremental refinements of original regimens, using randomized clinical studies by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Medical Research Council in the UK (UKALL protocols) and German Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster clinical trials group (ALL-BFM protocols), ALL in children has become a largely curable disease. This approach was extended to the lymphomas in 1963 by physicians at the NCI, who ultimately proved that nitrogen mustard, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisone, known as the MOPP regimen, could cure patients with Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Currently, nearly all successful cancer chemotherapy regimens use this paradigm of multiple drugs given simultaneously, called combination chemotherapy or polychemotherapy. Freireich stated that he was unfazed by the criticism he initially received for attempting this pioneering method of treatment. He led the Center's Leukemia Research Program during the 1980s and 1990s. He made contributions to over 600 scientific papers and over 100 books. The Center established the Emil J. Freireich Award for Excellence in Education to honor his efforts of setting up graduate teaching programs to promote research. It gives recognition to "members of the teaching faculty for excellence in education contributions". Later life and death Freireich was profiled in Malcolm Gladwell's 2013 book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. He was honored as a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2014. He was employed as the Ruth Harriet Ainsworth Chair, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Director of Adult Leukemia Research Program, and Director of Special Medical Education Programs, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Freireich retired in September 2015, after working at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for 50 years. Nonetheless, he kept on teaching on a part-time basis until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. He went on to participate virtually on the center's key meetings. Freireich died from COVID-19 at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston on February 1, 2021. He was 93; and is survived by his wife, Haroldine, their four children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Selected awards Freireich was a recipient of numerous awards for his research, including: 2008 Paul Ehrlich Magic-Bullet Lifetime Achievement Award 2005 Gerald P. Bodey Sr., Distinguished Award 2003 Pollin Prize for Pediatric Research, Columbia University 2001 Cino del Duca