Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr.

Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr. (born April 1, 1933) is an American physician and cancer researcher. Born in Boston, he received an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.D. from Duke University, and an M.Sc. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his medical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in 1962 as a commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, becoming the founding Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics in 1995. He stepped down from this position in 2012 to become a senior investigator and advisor to the National Cancer Institute.
One of Fraumeni's research accomplishments was the identification in 1969 with Frederick Pei Li of four families with an increased susceptibility to multiple forms of cancer in children and young adults. Tracing these families and 20 others for twenty years led to the characterization of what became known as Li–Fraumeni syndrome and the discovery in 1990 of inherited mutations of the tumor suppressor gene, p53, as the underlying mechanism in most affected families.
Awards.
Fraumeni has been recognized by numerous honors and awards for his research into the genetic and environmental determinants of cancer. Among them are the Abraham Lilienfeld Award from the American College of Epidemiology, John Snow Award from the American Public Health Association, James D. Bruce Award from the American College of Physicians, Nathan Davis Award from the American Medical Association, Charles S. Mott Prize (with F.P. Li) from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, Medal of Honor from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the American Cancer Society, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Cancer Research. Fraumeni is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, Association of American Physicians, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has over 900 scientific publications, including several books on the causes and prevention of cancer.