Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa

Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa (30 March 1917 – 24 March 2010) was a noted Brazilian physician, biologist and geneticist.

Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa was born in Rio de Janeiro, where he did all his studies, first in

As a scientific leader, Dr. Frota-Pessoa held many prominent positions, such as: specialist in Science Education of the Pan American Union (Organization of American States) in Washington, D.C. (1955–1956), consultant in Human Genetics for the World Health Organization (1961–1986), director of the Coordination Center of Brazil of the Multinational Program of Genetics of the Pan American Union (1968–1973), director of the Centro de Estudos sobre Currículo para o Ensino de Biologia (CECEB) from 1972 to 1979, president of the Brazilian Society of Genetics (1968–1970) and of the Latin American Association of Genetics (1969–1971), founding member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo (1974). He published more than 130 research papers on genetics and about 500 popularization articles.

His main research interests were the systematics of Drosophila, the genetics of human populations, cytogenetics, medical genetics and genetic counseling, and genetics in psychiatry.

Dr. Frota-Pessoa was always one of the most active and respected enthusiasts for the teaching of biology and the popularisation of science and a promoter of

Bibliography

• Vianna-Morgante AM, Azevedo ES, Otto PA, Opitz JM. Encomium: Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa. Am J Med Genet. 1996 Jun 28;63(4):581–4.
  PMID 8826438
• Frota-Pessoa, O. 1957. The estimation of the size of isolates based on census data. Am. J. Hum. Genet. vol. 9, pp. 9–16.
• Frota-Pessoa, O. 1961. On the number of the gene loci and the total mutation rate in man. Amer. Nat. vol. 45, p. 217–222.
• Martello, N., Santos, J.L.F. and Frota-Pessoa, O. 1978. Risks of manifestation of Huntington chorea. J. Génét. Humaine, vol. 26, pp. 33–35.
• Mosalve, M.V., Erdmann, B., Otto, P.A. and Frota-Pessoa, O. 1980. The human Y chromosome: racial variation and evolution. Rev. Bras. Genet. vol. 3, p. 433–446.
• Zatz M., Betti R.T., Frota-Pessoa O. Treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy with growth hormone inhibitors. Am J Med Genet. 1986 Jul;24(3):549–66.
  PMID 3524231

• Biography. Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
• Obituary (Portuguese) [1]