His Jewish parents, Mary (Klein) and David Freireich, immigrated to the United States from Hungary.
However, he was fired due to a dispute with the administrators, after he attempted to treat a patient with heart failure who had been transferred to the hospital's "death room" and left for dead.
[10] In 1965, Freireich, Frei, and James F. Holland hypothesized that cancer could best be treated by combinations of drugs, each with a different mechanism of action.
After many experimental challenges, Holland, Freireich, and Frei simultaneously administered methotrexate, vincristine, 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and prednisone, together referred to as the VAMP regimen, and induced long-term remissions in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
[10][11] With incremental refinements of original regimens, using randomized clinical studies by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Medical Research Council in the UK (UKALL protocols) and German Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster clinical trials group (ALL-BFM protocols), ALL in children has become a largely curable disease.
[9][13] The Center established the Emil J. Freireich Award for Excellence in Education to honor his efforts of setting up graduate teaching programs to promote research.
[13] Freireich was profiled in Malcolm Gladwell's 2013 book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.