In 1975, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) was remarkable more for its namesake, the legendary, ultra-reclusive billionaire, than for its $3 million research program. But Hughes' death in 1976, and the 1985 sale of the Hughes Aircraft Co. for $5 billion, have made the Institute remark-able to the tune of $200 million in biomedical grants last year alone. That figure is expected to climb to $300 million by 1990, making the Institute the largest private medical research organization in the world. Overseeing the Institute is its President and Chief Executive Officer, Donald S. Fredrickson. Born in Canon City, Co., in 1924, Fredrickson received his bachelor's (1946) and medical (1949) degrees from the University of Michigan. He did his intern-ship and residency in Boston hospitals and joined the staff of the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1955. He was director of the National Institutes of Health from 1975-1981. He...

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