Donald Sharp Fredrickson, MD

Abstract

Dr Donald Sharp Fredrickson was one of the foremost physician scientists and medical leaders of our time. In 1953, as a young investigator, he joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he held a series of increasingly important research and administrative positions in the National Heart Institute, later renamed the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In 1975, Don was asked to become NIH director. He served under 3 presidents until resigning in 1981.Figure During his 2 decades as a clinical and basic research scientist at the National Heart Institute, Don Fredrickson was part of a remarkable team that helped transform our understanding of the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. The work of this team was instrumental in creating the field of lipidology and establishing the foundation for present-day approaches to the management of lipid disorders. Don also trained a generation of international basic and clinical research scientists, fostering their careers in immeasurable ways. These investigators are now among the world’s preeminent lipidologists. After his early work on sterol metabolism, Don studied the structure and metabolism of the plasma lipoproteins, their role in fat transport, and the genetic factors that regulate their metabolism and concentration in the blood (personal communication, NIH, July 23, 2002). He participated in research on apolipoproteins A, B, and C, including the separation of apolipoproteins A and C into their component parts and the characterization and sequencing of apolipoproteins A-II, C-I, C-II, and C-III.1–8 Don also discovered 2 genetic disorders: Tangier disease (TD), whose principal feature is a lack of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and cholesteryl ester storage disease, a lysosomal enzyme deficiency.9–12 Research into the genetic abnormality that causes TD has provided us with a key to understanding the molecular mechanisms of lipoprotein metabolism. In the early 1960s, Don formed the National Heart …