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	Biographical Information Early Career and Work with Antihypertensive Drugs, 1940-1949 The Veterans Administration Hospital and Georgetown University School of Medicine, 1949-1964 The VA Cooperative Study and the Beginning of Routine Hypertension Screening, 1964-1980 After 1980: Changing Trends in Hypertension Therapy Further Readings
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Edward David Freis (1912-2005) was an American cardiologist who made key contributions to clinical and scientific understanding of cardiovascular disease. He is best known as the father of the first double-blind, multi-institutional controlled clinical trial of cardiovascular drugs, the Veterans Administration Cooperative Study on Antihypertensive Agents. This landmark study demonstrated that treating high blood pressure--hypertension--with medication could dramatically reduce disability and death from stroke, congestive heart failure, and other cardiovascular diseases. Freis received a Lasker Award in 1971 in recognition of this work. The study provided the impetus for the establishment of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in 1972, and launched an era of preventive cardiology.

As part of its Profiles in Science project, the National Library of Medicine is digitizing and making available over the World Wide Web a selection of the Edward D. Freis Papers, for use by educators and researchers. This Web site provides access to the portions of the Edward D. Freis Papers that are now publicly available. Individuals interested in conducting research in the Edward D. Freis Papers are invited to contact the National Library of Medicine.

This online Exhibit is designed to introduce you to the various phases of Freis's scientific career and professional life. It is divided into sections that focus on Freis's life and major scientific contributions to public health. We suggest that new visitors begin with this exhibit, which includes a small selection of documents and visuals, organized within these sections. Each section begins with a "Background Narrative," which leads to "Documents" and "Visuals."

Visitors may access additional materials through Search on the navigation bar. They may also view the materials alphabetically or chronologically by choosing Browse on the navigation bar. Documents and visuals in these lists are arranged by format and then either alphabetically by title or chronologically.