Champion disease fighter
Born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, the direction of Dr. Frappier’s life and work was forever changed when his mother died of tuberculosis when he was nineteen years old. From that moment, Dr. Frappier decided to pursue a career in medicine. Graduating his degree from the University of Montréal in 1930, Dr. Frappier spent two years at the Institut Pasteur in Paris working with the developers of the tuberculosis vaccine strain Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) before returning to become director of laboratories for the Saint-Luc Hospital. Soon after, he founded and directed the Institut of microbologie et d’hyiène de Montreal. Over his long career, Dr. Frappier became the driving force behind anti-tuberculosis vaccinations, and a major figure in the development of public health as well as in the advancement of research in infectious diseases.