Richard Eugene Frye is an American autism researcher. He was formerly an associate professor at Arizona Children's Hospital in Phoenix, and before that at the

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is a Public university, public medical school in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is part of the University of Arkansas System and consists of six colleges, seven institutes, several research cente ...

's department of pediatrics, as well as the Director of the Autism Multispecialty Clinic at

Arkansas Children’s Hospital Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) is a pediatric hospital with a Level I trauma center in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is among the largest in the United States, serving infants, children, teens, and young adults from birth to age 21. ACH is affil ...

. Prior to that Frye was a faculty member at the

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) is a public academic health science center in Houston, Texas, United States. It was created in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents. It is located ...

's division of child and adolescent neurology.

Education

Frye received his bachelor's degree from

Long Island University C. W. Post Campus LIU Post, formally the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University and often referred to as C.W. Post, is a private university in Brookville, New York, on Long Island. It is part of Long Island University (LIU), and the largest school in the L ...

in 1986 in

psychobiology Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology,Psychobi ...

. Five years later, he obtained his M.S. from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

in biomedical science/biostatistics. Frye went on to obtain his PhD and MD degrees both in 1998, and both from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. From 1998 to 2000 Frye completed a residency in pediatrics at

Jackson Memorial Hospital Jackson Memorial Hospital, also referred to as Jackson or abbreviated MJMH, is a non-profit, tertiary care hospital, and the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's School of Medicine. As of 2021, it is the largest hospital in t ...

, before traveling to

Children's Hospital Boston Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...

(CHB) to complete another residency, this time in pediatric neurology. After completing his residencies, he completed a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

ship in behavioral neurology and learning disabilities, also at CHB, from 2003 to 2005. From 2004 to 2005 Frye completed another research fellowship, this time at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in psychology.

Research

One of Frye's earlier highly cited papers was published in 1990, which studied the effects of cigarette smoking on the sense of smell. In fact, much of Frye's early research focused on olfaction. Frye's more recent research focuses on the potential environmental

causes of autism Many causes of autism, including environmental disease, environmental and genetic disorder, genetic factors, have been recognized or proposed, but understanding of the etiology of autism is incomplete. Attempts have been made to incorporate the k ...

, as well as physiological abnormalities that have been observed in autistic individuals. Specifically, he and his co-authors, who include

Dan Rossignol Daniel A. Rossignol, MD, FAAFP, is a family medicine doctor. Rossignol runs the Rossignol Medical Center, with offices in Melbourne, Florida and in Aliso Viejo, California. He also works at the Wisconsin Integrative Hyperbaric Center in Fitchburg ...

, have concluded that it is possible that autistic individuals suffer from

immune dysregulation In biology, immunity is the state of being insusceptible or resistant to a noxious agent or process, especially a pathogen or infectious disease. Immunity may occur naturally or be produced by prior exposure or immunization. Innate and adaptive ...

and

oxidative stress Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances in the normal ...

, as well as that

mitochondrial dysfunction Mitochondrial disease is a group of disorders caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are the organelles that generate energy for the cell and are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells. They convert the energy of ...

is more common in such individuals than in the general population. In addition, Frye's research has concluded that autism may be caused by exposure to toxicants. Frye has also published research on the use of dietary supplements as autism treatments, including

melatonin Melatonin, an indoleamine, is a natural compound produced by various organisms, including bacteria and eukaryotes. Its discovery in 1958 by Aaron B. Lerner and colleagues stemmed from the isolation of a substance from the pineal gland of cow ...

and

tetrahydrobiopterin Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4, THB), also known as sapropterin ( INN), is a cofactor of the three aromatic amino acid hydroxylase enzymes, used in the metabolism of amino acid phenylalanine and in the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitters serotoni ...

, and recently coauthored a review regarding treatments for children with both autism and

seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

s, which concluded that "limited evidence is available on the effectiveness of treatments for seizures in children with autism." However, Frye also said that this paper "...demonstrates that certain treatments could be beneficial for treating both autism symptoms and seizures at the same time." Another of Frye's studies concluded that many autistic children have abnormal levels of gut bacteria, and that these children exhibit abnormal energy metabolism as a result. Some have speculated that the results of this research "could create blood tests for early screening of the condition .e. autism" In 2016, Frye contributed the foreword to a medical memoir of autistic siblings with abnormal gut bacteria and related biomarkers.

Selected publications

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References

External links

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Interview at Cogent Benger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frye, Richard E. Autism researchers LIU Post alumni Georgetown University School of Medicine alumni Living people University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston faculty Year of birth missing (living people)