Emil+J.+Freidreich

By Jasmine Garner

The primary example for Gladwell’s presentation of the “eminent orphans”, he was a successful doctor who made superb advances in the fight against childhood leukemia. His father committed suicide when Freireich was a child, thereby determining the success that Eisenstadt so clearly describes (NY Times). His most notable success was coming up with the process of combination chemotherapy (in which more than one chemical drug is administered at once rather than just one) for leukemia patients in the 1950’s, which eventually became the first effective therapy for systemic cancer (NY Presbyterian). He also came up with a successful bone marrow transplant process, which aided in reducing cancerous cells through surgery. His methods were applied to multiple cancers as well as Hodgkin’s disease. Overall, he paved the way to complete eradication of leukemia, especially in children, and contributed to future scientific discoveries about curing cancer.

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