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 education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, an M.D. from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, and an M.Sc. in epidemiology from the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

. He completed his medical residency at

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

and

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

. 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 (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

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 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 the p53 tum ...

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 (LFS) 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 ...

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 (biology), 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 ...

p53 p53, also known as tumor protein p53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory transcription factor protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thou ...

, 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 an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

, 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 The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; ) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and coordinate research into the causes of cancer. It also cance ...

and the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

, 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 research, basic, ...

. Fraumeni is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as 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, Engineerin ...

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine ...

, and

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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 other ...

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

AACR Academy The American Association for Cancer Research elects classes of fellows to recognize influential scientists in the field of cancer research. Six fellows were appointed to Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon Panel. Sever ...

* 2011 Fellow,

* 2009 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research * 2002 Member,

* 1997 James D. Bruce Memorial Award,

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a Philadelphia-based national organization of internal medicine physicians, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults. With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest medical-specialty or ...

* 1995 Charles S. Mott Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation * 1995 John Snow Award, American Public Health Association * 1994 Member,

* 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 ...

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

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as 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, Engineerin ...

* 1992 Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

* 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 T.H. Chan 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