\nDennis Frate works with children at a puppet show at the Tutwiler Community Education Center to educate them about the dangers of pesticides in a 2000 Earthwatch Institute project. UM photo by Robert Jordan\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
OXFORD, Miss. – Dennis A. Frate, 59, former longtime
\npharmacy professor at the University of Mississippi, died
\nOct. 22 in an automobile accident near his home in
\nJackson.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nFrate, a medical anthropologist widely known for his
\nstudies of rural health in the Mississippi Delta, joined
\nthe School of Pharmacy faculty in 1980 as an assistant
\nprofessor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical
\nSciences. He left in 2000 to become a professor of
\npreventive medicine at the UM Medical Center, where he
\nserved until retiring June 30.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nDuring his time in the pharmacy school, Frate served as
\ncoordinator of the Rural Health Research Program and
\nprincipal investigator of a National Institutes of
\nHealth-funded study to develop community-based programs to
\ncontrol high blood pressure in rural populations. He also
\nconducted studies of prolonged pesticide exposure and its
\nimpact on health.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n“Dennis took a lot of pride in being a grass-roots
\nresearcher who actually got out into the field and really
\nworked with the people he was studying, rather than just
\nsitting in a lab somewhere and collecting data,” said Ben
\nBanahan, UM professor of pharmacy administration who worked
\nclosely with Frate. “He didn’t want to be in some ivory
\ntower. He was very much into studying the medical
\nanthropology issues of poor people.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nFrate’s work often was characterized by “out of the box”
\nthinking, said E.M. “Mick” Kolassa, adjunct professor of
\npharmacy administration and president of Medical Marketing
\nEconomics in Oxford.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n“Working in a number of diverse and complex projects,
\nDennis was able to adapt his knowledge base to just about
\nany situation,” Kolassa said. “Whether we were trying to
\nunderstand how a physician reached a decision or how often
\nresidents of the Delta ate fish, Dennis had insights that
\nwere always amazing.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nFormer students remember Frate as a caring professor who
\nmade an impact on their lives far beyond the classroom.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n“Without any sense of exaggeration, he was the best
\ninstructor I had throughout my graduate education,” said
\nJohn Juergens, the pharmacy school’s coordinator of student
\nprofessional development and associate professor of
\npharmacy administration. “He was so effective in his
\nteaching that not a day goes by more than 20 years later
\nthat I do not apply some of the ideas and principles he
\ntaught me.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n“As a research colleague, I was continually amazed at his
\npiercing insights into the social, behavioral and cultural
\naspects of human health. He taught me what it really means
\nto be a humanist, and I try to pass that legacy on to those
\naround me.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nFrate was also a talented musician who once sang in a
\ndo-wop group, Kolassa said. “He was also an accomplished
\nfisherman and the luckiest poker player I ever met,
\nalthough his inherent sincerity prevented him from being a
\ngood bluffer.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nAfter earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from
\nMiami University, Frate completed master’s and doctoral
\ndegrees in medical anthropology at the University of
\nIllinois. During his graduate studies, he spent time in the
\nDelta studying geophagy, the practice of eating dirt.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\n“It was kind of a running joke we had,” Banahan said.
\n“Every three or four years, somebody would rediscover the
\ngeophagy article, and Dennis would get a whole new round of
\ncalls from people doing stories on dirt-eating.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nThe researcher was even invited to be a guest on “The
\nTonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” to discuss the
\npractice, but he declined because he did not want the work
\ntaken lightly, Banahan said.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n\nFrate is survived by his wife, Juliet B. Frate, and
\ndaughter Elizabeth. The family requests that memorials be
\nsent to Tutwiler Clinic Inc., P.O. Box 462, Tutwiler, MS
\n38963.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 Dennis Frate works with children at a puppet show at the Tutwiler Community Education Center to educate them about the dangers of pesticides in a 2000 Earthwatch Institute project. UM photo by Robert Jordan OXFORD, Miss. – Dennis A. 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![\"former](\"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/wp-content\/uploads\/stories\/news\/former%20pharmacy%20professor%20dennis.jpg\" "\\"former")
<\/p>\n