MONMOUTH, Ill. — Dr. Frank Fitch ’51 will be inducted into the Monmouth College Hall of Achievement during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 17-19. The formal announcement will occur at the President’s Gala on the evening of Oct. 17.

The Albert D. Lasker Professor Emeritus of Medical Sciences at the University of Chicago, where he taught full-time for 39 years, Fitch pioneered medical technology involving monoclonal antibodies, which serve as complementary elements in the areas of genetic research, immunology and therapeutic applications. In 1995, the Frank W. Fitch Monoclonal Antibody Facility was created to promote this technology and make such services available to the University of Chicago community.

"A monoclonal antibody, OKT3, is used to treat transplant rejection, and that’s one of the reasons liver and kidney transplants are so successful now," he told a University of Chicago publication shortly following his retirement.

This will not be the first honor that Fitch receives this year. In June, he was honored by the University of Chicago as the recipient of the Norman Maclean Faculty Award, which recognizes emeritus or very senior faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to teaching and student life on campus.

An article announcing the award said: "Fitch has been voted a favorite faculty member by many graduating classes … His students report that he encouraged them to think creatively and independently but always stressed rigor in their design of experiments and interpretation of data."

"What we’re trying to do with students is to prepare them for a career that, with any kind of luck, will last at least twice as long as they have now lived," he said in the aforementioned article. "And that puts learning in an entirely different perspective. If you only learn the facts, that isn’t going to last you for two lifetimes. What we’re trying to teach them is how to learn."

Fitch, who grew up the son of a doctor in nearby Bushnell, studied at Monmouth from 1947 to 1949 before earning three degrees in pathology from the University of Chicago, including his M.D., with honors, in 1953 and his Ph.D. in 1960. He has served as a teacher, a leading immunology researcher, a practicing physician, an administrator and a science advocate in Washington, D.C., all while living in the Hyde Park area of Chicago.

As a researcher, Fitch received numerous honors, including a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship to support sabbatical years in Switzerland and a Lifetime Service Award from the American Association of Immunologists. His advocacy work in Washington helped fund important scientific projects.

"The message was, ‘We don’t know where the important breakthroughs are going to come from, so it’s important to support good science,’" he said.

Among other professional positions, Fitch has served as director of the Ben May Institute for Cancer Research, president of the American Association of Immunologists and president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Considered Monmouth College’s highest honor, the Hall of Achievement recognizes alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership or service, particularly at the national or international level. It was created in 1992 to honor the late Wendell Whiteman ’27 and his wife, Lucille.