Frederick Kaplan

Frederick S. Kaplan is an American medical doctor specializing in research of musculoskeletal disorders such as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP).

[2] In the mid 1980s, Kaplan met David Romanoff, the medical director of the Inglis House—a residential care facility for adults with disabilities.

Two residents of the facility were diagnosed with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a very rare medical condition in which the soft tissue of the body ossifies, or turns to bone, over time.

[4][3] Kaplan stated that his reaction to meeting the young patient was "visceral and immediate", causing him to request a three-year sabbatical from his work so that he could begin to research FOP.

[7] After the discovery, Kaplan remarked, "It took our team of researchers and collaborators more than 15 years of diligent effort to unravel the genetic cause of FOP, which had been shrouded in mystery for so long.