Frank L. Horsfall, Jr., M.D., C.M.
Brief Bio
Frank Lappin Horsfall, Jr., (1906–1971) was the fifty-first president of the American Association of Imunologists, serving from 1967 to 1968. An able administrator and investigator, Horsfall spent nearly a quarter century at the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, where he was vice president of clinical studies and physician-in-chief from 1955 to 1960, before becoming president and director of the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.
Horsfall received his M.D., C.M. from McGill University in Montreal in 1932. He intended to become a surgeon but changed his plans when, while serving as a house officer in pathology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston from 1932 to 1933, he discovered that he was severely allergic to formaldehyde. Curious about his own hypersensitivity, Horsfall became interested in the field of immunology. After interning for one year at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Horsfall joined the staff of the Rockefeller Institute Hospital as an assistant resident physician in 1934. With the exception of the period from 1937 to 1941, when he was a staff member of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation, Horsfall remained at the Rockefeller Institute Hospital until 1960, becoming resident physician in 1936, physician in 1941, and vice president of clinical studies and physician-in-chief of the hospital in 1955. From 1934 to 1960, he was also affiliated with the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research as an assistant (1934–1937), member (1941–1960), and professor (1957–1960). Horsfall was appointed president and director of the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, professor of microbiology and director of the Sloan Kettering Division of the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and professor of medicine at Cornell University Medical College in 1960. He held these positions until his death from cancer on February 19, 1971.
AAI Service History
Joined: 1937
President: 1967–1968
Vice President: 1966–1967
Councillor: 1962–1966
The Journal of Immunology
Associate Editor/Editorial Board: 1950–1958
Editorial Board: 1958–1962
Other Service
AAI Representative to FASEB Federation Board: 1967–1968
President's Address
"
Immunology in 1968," Delivered April 14, 1968
The Journal of Immunology 101, no. 2 (1968): 183–86.
Awards and Honors
- Eli Lilly Award in Bacteriology and Immunology, 1937
- Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1948
- Fellow, American Philosophical Society, 1956
- John Frederick Lewis Award, American Philosophical Society, 1959
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967
Institutional/Biographical Links