Board of Directors
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. Heis a frequent keynote speaker, including two addresses
on the Compression of Morbidity to the Nobel Committee, two keynote
addresses to the Institute of Medicine, and the keynote to the Johns
Hopkins University Community of Scholars on the 100th anniversity
of the institution.
In 1980, he introcuded 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 33 NIH-sponsored years. 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
20 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 over 50 years, Sarah, 3 horses, and a
dog 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 over 50 years in
Woodside, California, with three horses, a golden retriever, and
a barn cat. She has survived of an extremely formidable malignancy,
stage 4B malignant melanoma with eleven brain metastasesand nine
brain surgeries, for the past 6 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.
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