Emil Freireich, a pioneer of chemotherapy and ‘towering figure in oncology,’ dies at 93
His success with patients who others believed to be lost causes vastly expanded options for treatment.
By Emily LangerThe Washington Post
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Emil Freireich, a physician-scientist who helped engineer effective treatments for childhood leukemia at a time when the disease was considered a death sentence, an advance that magnified the promise of chemotherapy and was credited with saving tens of thousands of lives, died Feb. 1 in Houston. He was 93.
His death was announced by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where Dr. Freireich worked for half a century and where he died. A spokeswoman for the center said that he had covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but that the cause of death has not yet been determined.