Rose Frisch

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Rose Epstein Frisch
See caption
Frisch in the early 1980's
Born
Rose Epstein

(1918-07-07)July 7, 1918
The Bronx, New York City, United States
DiedJanuary 30, 2015(2015-01-30) (aged 96)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
EducationSmith College, Columbia University, University of Wisconsin
Alma materSmith College - BA, 1939
Known fordiscovery of leptin; work in infertility, specifically her discovery that low body fat was a contributing factor to infertility
SpouseDavid H. Frisch[3]
RelativesLee Eastman (brother)
Linda McCartney (niece)
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship – 1975–1976[1]

Sigma Xi national lecturer – 1988–1990[2] Fellow of the Bunting Institute – 1993–1994[2]
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[2]
Rally Day Medal for Medical Research and Reproductive Health (awarded by Smith College)[2]

Professor Emeritus Award of Merit, Harvard School of Public Health[2]
Scientific career
FieldsWomen's health, women's biology, leptin, obesity, fat, infertility, public health, population health, biology
InstitutionsManhattan Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM; Harvard School of Public Health
Websitewww.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/in-memoriam-rose-epstein-frisch-expert-in-womens-fertility-2/

Rose Epstein Frisch (born Rose Epstein; July 7, 1918 – January 30, 2015) was a pioneering American scientist in fertility and human development whose work was instrumental in the discovery of leptin.[4][5][6] She researched infertility and discovered that low body fat is a contributing factor to infertility.[7]

Early life and education

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She was born Rose Epstein in 1918, in the Bronx, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Louis and Stella Epstein.[8][9] Her brother Lee Eastman (born Leopold Vail Epstein) is Linda McCartney's father.[8] 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 Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Wisconsin in 1943.[2] She met her husband, David H. Frisch, while she was at Smith and he was at Princeton.[5] The two worked on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the second World War.[10]

Research

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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. This discovery was published in the journal Science in 1974.[11] In her work with Grace Wyshak she also discovered that athletes were at lower risk of breast cancer.[7]

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.[7] Once her children were older, she took a research position at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[5][6] Frisch remained at Harvard for the rest of her career, studying swimmers, dancers, and other athletes to learn how body fat affects fertility and the propensity for diseases such as breast cancer.[6]

Before her death, Frisch was involved with the Cambridge-based Center for Population and Development Studies of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.[12]

Legacy

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Frisch was widely respected by athletic women, who were often able to achieve a pregnancy in part by applying knowledge gathered from her research.[7]

Honors and awards

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Selected publications

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  • Frisch, Rose E. Plants that Feed the World. (1966). Van Nostrand; First Edition (1966). ASIN: B0000CNBFC - children’s book on nutrition
  • Frisch, Rose E. (Ed.). Adipose Tissue and Reproduction (March 1990). S Karger Publishers. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..

See also

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References

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  4. ^ Female Fertility and the Body Fat Connection, book for the non-scientist describing her detective work leading to the discovery of leptin
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  8. ^ a b Pam Belluck, "Rose E. Frisch, Scientist Who Linked Body Fat to Fertility, Dies at 96", New York Times, February 11, 2015; accessed September 25, 2018
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  12. ^ Small, K. R., Rose Frisch, 1918-2015, posted February 12, 2015, accessed February 18, 2015
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