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 Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, an M.D. from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, and an M.Sc. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his medical residency at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

in 1962 as a commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, becoming the founding Director of th
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

. One of Fraumeni's research accomplishments was the identification in 1969 with

Frederick Pei Li Frederick Pei Li (; May 7, 1940 – June 12, 2015) was a United States, Chinese-American physician. He is most famous for his discovery, together with his colleague Joseph Fraumeni, of Li–Fraumeni syndrome, which is caused by germline mutations ...

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 Li–Fraumeni syndrome is a rare, autosomal dominant, hereditary disorder that predisposes carriers to cancer development. It was named after two American physicians, Frederick Pei Li and Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., who first recognized the syndrom ...

and the discovery in 1990 of inherited mutations of the

tumor suppressor gene A tumor suppressor gene (TSG), or anti-oncogene, is a gene that regulates a cell during cell division and replication. If the cell grows uncontrollably, it will result in cancer. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or red ...

, p53, as the underlying mechanism in most affected families.Malkin D, Li FP, Strong LC, Fraumeni, JF Jr., Nelson CE, Kim DH, Kassel J, Gryka MA, Bischoff FZ, Tainsky, MA, Friend SH. Germ line p53 mutations in a familial syndrome of breast cancer, sarcomas, and other neoplasms. Science 1990:250: 1233–1238.

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 The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

Charles S. Mott Prize The Charles S. Mott Prize was awarded annually by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation as one of a trio of scientific prizes entirely devoted to cancer research, the other two being the Charles F. Kettering Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan, J ...

(with F.P. Li) from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, Medal of Honor from the

International Agency for Research on Cancer The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; french: Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer, CIRC) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and ...

and the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the

American Association for Cancer Research The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including basic, clinical, and t ...

. Fraumeni is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, National Academy of Medicine, Association of American Physicians, and

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. He has over 900 scientific publications, including several books on the causes and prevention of cancer. * 2013 Fellow of the AACR Academy * 2011 Fellow,

* 2009

AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research The American Association for Cancer Research gives several annual awards for significant contributions to the field of cancer research. AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research This award recognizes prodigious scientists that have ...

* 2002 Member,

* 1997 James D. Bruce Memorial Award,

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

* 1995

, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation * 1995 John Snow Award, American Public Health Association * 1994 Member, Association of American Physicians * 1993 Abraham M. Lilienfeld Award,

American College of Epidemiology The American College of Epidemiology (ACE) is an American organization incorporated in 1979 to support and promote the work of American epidemiologists. It is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Members of the American College of Epidemiology are p ...

* 1993 AACR-American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Epidemiology and Prevention * 1992 Member,

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

* 1992 Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

* 1983–1986 Board of Directors, American Association for Cancer Research * 1967 Fellow,

References

Biography of Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr., M.D., M.Sc. at DCEG

DCEG Publications Database Search for Dr. Fraumeni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraumeni, Joseph F. Jr. 1933 births Living people American medical researchers Duke University School of Medicine alumni Harvard School of Public Health alumni Johns Hopkins University people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 20th-century American physicians Harvard College alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine