Background
She was born Rose Epstein in 1918, in the Bronx, to Russian immigrants Louis and Stella Epstein.
Population sciences researcher
She was born Rose Epstein in 1918, in the Bronx, to Russian immigrants Louis and Stella Epstein.
Frisch attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in 1939. She earned her master"s degree in zoology the following year at Columbia University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in genetics from the University of Wisconsin in 1943.
She is mainly known for her work in infertility. Specifically the discovery that low body fat was a contributing factor to infertility. Focusing on the role of adipose tissue (fat) in fertility, Frisch discovered that low body fat (under 17%) could cause infertility, late menarche, and oligomenorrhea.
She also discovered that athletes were at lower risk of breast cancer.
Frisch began her research career as a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, where she worked with Drosophila melanogaster. After her doctorate, she became a human computer for the Manhattan Project.
Until she passed, she was involved with the Cambridge-based Center for Population and Development Studies of the Harvard Territory of Hawaii Chan School of Public Health. Branch J. Van Nostrand; First Edition.
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member American Association for the Advancement of Science, Endocrine Society American, Population Society American, Sigma Xi (national lecturer 1989-1990).
Married David H. Frisch. Children: Henry J., Ruth Frisch Dealy.