Sigma Xi national lecturer – 1988–1990[2] Fellow of the Bunting Institute – 1993–1994[2] Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[2] Rally Day Medal for Medical Research and Reproductive Health (awarded by Smith College)[2] Rose Epstein Frisch (born Rose Epstein; July 7, 1918 – January 30, 2015) was a pioneering American scientist in fertility and human development whose work was instrumental in the discovery of leptin.

[8] Frisch began her research career as a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, where she worked with Drosophila melanogaster.

[8] Once her children were older, she took a research position at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[6][7] Frisch remained at Harvard for the rest of her career, studying swimmers, dancers, and other athletes to learn how body fat affects fertility and the propensity for diseases such as breast cancer.

[13] Frisch was widely respected by athletic women, who were often able to achieve a pregnancy in part by applying knowledge gathered from her research.