Background
Frei was born in 1924 in Saint Louis.
Frei was born in 1924 in Saint Louis.
Colgate University; Yale School of Medicine.
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. His family owned the stained glass manufacturer Emil Frei & Associates.
Frei received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University in 1944 and his medical degree from Yale University in 1948.
He interned at Firmin Desloge Hospital, now Saint Louis University Hospital in Saint 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. Doctorate. Anderson Cancer Center from 1965 to 1972.
While at Doctor of Medicine 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.
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. Frei died at his home in Oak Park, Illinois on April 30, 2013.
He was 89.