Background
Fraser-Reid was born in Coleyville, Jamaica and attended Excelsior School and Clarendon College before moving to Canada in 1956.
Fraser-Reid was born in Coleyville, Jamaica and attended Excelsior School and Clarendon College before moving to Canada in 1956.
He completed his Bachelor of Science (1959) and Master of Science (1961) at Queen"s University in Kingston, Ontario then went to University of Alberta to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in 1964 under the supervision of Raymond Lemieux.
From 1966 to 1980 Fraser-Reid was on the faculty of the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario where he established a research group known as "Fraser-Reid"s Rowdies". The primary emphasis of his work at this point was the synthesis of chiral natural products using carbohydrates as the starting materials. In 1980 he moved to the University of Maryland, College Park before finally relocating to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1982.
In 1985 he became the James B. Duke Professor of Chemistry.
While at Duke University his research efforts turned to exploring the role of oligosaccharides in immune responses, and particularly on the role these molecules play in human diseases like malaria and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. After his retirement from Duke in 1996, which was linked to an undisclosed harassment claim, he established the non-profit Natural Products & Glycotechnology Research Institute Incorporated. to study the carbohydrate chemistry/biology of tropical parasitic diseases in Third World countries with one goal being to develop a carbohydrate-based malaria vaccine. In the 1970s Fraser-Reid was involved in a lawsuit against a building contractor who had not followed municipal building codes.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Fraser-Reid prevailed and "Fraser-Reid v Droumtsekas" is often cited in Canadian civil law.