Foundation Patrons

James F. Fries, M.D.

Jim is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in conceptualization of strategies to promote healthy aging, in behavioral approaches to decrease morbidity, in long-term outcome assessment, in self-management strategies, in design of efficacious and effective interventions, in evaluation of long-term behavioral interventions by randomized clinical trial, and in managing large scale patient data collection and analysis projects. He has published over 280 articles, 11 books, and numerous book chapters and invited papers, and is a frequent keynote speaker.

In 1980, he developed the Compression of Morbidity hypothesis, which has provided the conceptual foundation for health promotion and healthy aging programs. The Compression of Morbidity hypothesis holds that primary preventive factors have a greater effect upon morbidity than upon mortality and that chronic diseases with onset later in life will be present for a shorter length of time.

Dr. Fries established ARAMIS (Arthritis, Rheumatism and Aging Medical Information System) in 1975 and has continued as Principal Investigator through its current 30th year. ARAMIS pioneered the concept of the chronic disease databank. Currently, his NIH Roadmap PROMIS grant will provide measures for better assessment of long-term patient outcomes. Dr. Fries plays an important role in The Health Project, a private-public consortium of national leaders who seek consumer-oriented solutions to health care crises. Dr. Fries established Healthtrac, Inc. in 1984. Healthtrac has been the premier population health improvement program and the model for Medicare and WHO initiatives.

Modern self-management techniques directed at empowering patients toward appropriate decision-making in their own best interest were pioneered by Dr. Fries and co-author Donald Vickery in 1976 with the book Take Care of Yourself, with 240 printings and 16 million copies through the present 8th edition. Dr. Fries wrote Living Well, based upon Take Care of Yourself concepts and directed at senior populations, The Arthritis Helpbook (co-authored) and Arthritis: A Comprehensive Guide. He is recognized by ISI as one of the 250 most cited medical scientists in the world. He is a Research Hero of the Arthritis Foundation, and has been awarded the Clinical Research Award of the American College of Rheumatology. He is the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus of the Johns Hopkins University.

He lives with his wife of 50 years, Sarah, 3 horses, and 2 dogs in Woodside, California. He has run the Boston Marathon and has climbed (6) or attempted to climb (1) the highest mountain on each continent.

Sarah Tilton Fries, M.P.H.

Sarah Fries is Executive Director of the Fries Foundation and a nationally and internationally known health educator. She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her Master's from San Jose State University. She was president of Healthtrac, Inc., an esteemed and much recognized tailored population health improvement company directed toward improvement in health, reduction in medical care costs, and rigorous proof of effectiveness, for over 15 years.

She has directed the Fries Foundation since its inception in 1991. Recent awards include a record five C. Everett Koop National Health Awards, a Presidential Citation from the Society for Public Health Education, and a 2006 Alumna of the Year award from Marymount High School.

Her avocations have included family, equestrienne activities, adventure horseback riding in many lands, tennis, and skiing. She has traveled widely, from the North Pole to the Okavango Delta and from Bangkok to Perth to Malta. She lives with her husband of 49 years in Woodside, California, with three horses, two golden retrievers, and a barn cat. She is a survivor of an extremely formidable malignancy, stage 4B melanoma with brain metastases, for the past 5 years, with gradual return to the ski slopes, international travel, and other valued activities. She is a model for joyous and determined improvement from desperate illness.

Kenneth E. Fries, J.D.

Kenneth Fries, with Brother Jim and Sarah, has been an Executive Director of the Fries Foundation since its inception.

Ken has had a full career as a legal adviser in Washington, D.C., working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA), retiring as TDA General Counsel in 2000. Ken studied history and economics at Stanford University (including the overseas campus program in Tours, France), international trade law at the University of California (Berkeley), and French civil law at the University of Chicago and the University of Dakar, Senegal.

Currently Ken is consulting and teaching on a part-time basis for the International Law Institutes in Washington and Uganda. His special interest is public procurement law and policy reform in developing and transition countries. He has worked and traveled recently in Albania, Nigeria, Uganda, Mauritius, China, Mongolia, and Egypt. At home Ken enjoys reading and writing poetry.

Ken and his wife Janet live in Chico, California, along with Eddy, a young golden retriever, and a Persian cat named Captain Jack. Janet is an educator and member of the Advisory Board of the Fries Foundation. Together Ken and Janet enjoy the outdoor charm of Chico, international travel (especially France), sailing (anywhere), and visits with Janet's parents, her sister, a son, two daughters and their families in Texas and Arizona.

Elizabeth Ann Fries, Ph.D.

Elizabeth was Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-director of the Cancer Outreach Program, using behavioral and educational approaches to reduce cancer incidence through risk factor reduction, and to evaluate program effects. She also served as co-director of the VCU Women's Health Center of Excellence.

Her studies included increasing mammography use for women, reaching rural residents with innovative nutrition strategies, and helping teens to understand their family health history and risk for cancer, among many other projects. Dr. Fries led a statewide study to evaluate programs aimed to discourage tobacco use among children.

In addition to many grant awards, Dr. Fries was published in more than 25 journals.

Elizabeth was married to Viktor Bovbjerg and was mother of their two children, Kirsten and Hannah. She died in 2005 of complications from breast cancer chemotherapy at the age of 42.