Joseph Fraumeni received an A.B. degree from Harvard College, an M.D. from Duke University, and an M.Sc. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. After completing a medical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he joined the Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service in 1962. He became head of the Ecology Studies Section in 1966, Chief of the Environmental Epidemiology Branch in 1975, Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program in 1979, and founding Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics in 1995. He retired in 2017 and was named Scientist Emeritus. Dr. Fraumeni has authored or co-authored more than 900 scientific publications, and was an editor with David Schottenfeld of the first three editions of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Oxford University Press. In recognition of his research accomplishments, Dr. Fraumeni has received numerous honors, including 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, Charles S. Mott Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, Medal of Honor from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the American Cancer Society, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Cancer Research. Recently, the American Society of Preventive Oncology renamed its Distinguished Career Achievement Award as the Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., Award for Distinguished Achievement. Dr. Fraumeni is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

genetic susceptibility to cancer; molecular studies that uncovered inherited mutations in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene; lifestyle and other environmental causes of cancer; integration of genomic, metabolomic and other high-throughput technologies in new clinical and public health interventions