NIH Eminent Scientist Profiles

Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D., a leading researcher on the link between lipids and fats and heart disease, was NIH Director from 1975 to 1981. In the 1960s, he discovered the genetic disorders known as Tangier disease, which involves the absence of high-density lipoproteins, and cholesteryl ester storage disease, a lysosomal enzyme deficiency. Later in his career he led the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute. Dr. Fredrickson was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1971 and the National Academy of Science in 1973; he received the Canada Gairdner Award in 1978.

The Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum has gathered the following growing list of resources concerning Dr. Fredrickson:

Dr. Fredrickson's Own Reflections
• The Recombinant DNA Controversy: A Memoir, 2001: https://www.amazon.com/Recombinant-DNA-Controversy-Memoir/dp/1555812228
• Reflection on Recombinant DNA Molecule Program Advisory Committee in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 2001: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/26041
• Lecture on the history of NIH at the University of Alabama Birmingham, 1991: https://history.nih.gov/archives/downloads/fredricksonuabtalk.pdf
• Interview with NIH Office of History, 1998: https://history.nih.gov/archives/downloads/Fredrickson%20Klein%20interview.pdf
• Article on the challenging scope of biomedical research in Nature, 1987: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v329/n6141/pdf/329686a0.pdf
• Article on changes in biomedical research in the 1980s in New England Journal of Medicine, 1981: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198102263040903
• Article on the federal government’s role in nutrition in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/34/5/957.long
• Essay on the history of NIH in Public Health Reports, 1978: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1431946/?page=1
• Article about academics in medicine in the Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1968 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1808402/?page=1
• Importance of the field trial in Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1968: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1750303/?page=1

NIH Publications
• Entry in NIH Almanac: https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/donald-s-fredrickson-md
• Primary documents in National Library of Medicine’s Profiles in Science page, 2016: https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/browse/ResourceBrowse/CID/FF/p-sort/chron/TYPE
• Obituary in NIH Record, 2002: https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/06_25_2002/obits.htm
• Announcement of nomination to NIH Director in NIH Record, 1975 (PDF, 19.5 mB)

Journal Publications
• Obituary by Antonio Gotto in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 2002 (PDF, 42 kB)
• Tribute by John Elliott in Journal of the American Medical Association, 1988 (PDF, 1.89 mB)

Non-journal Publications
• Mentioned in D. Lynn Loriaux’s, A Biographical History of Endocrinology, 2016 (PDF, 45 kB)
• Biographical memoir by James B. Wyngaarden for National Academy of Sciences, 2005 (PDF, 1.21 mB)
• Washington Post obituary, 2002 (PDF, 186 kB)
• New York Times obituary, 2002
• Announcement of NIH Director resignation in Washington Post, 1981 (PDF, 160 kB)