Armand Frappier, was a physician, microbiologist and expert on tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 from Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is a city in southwestern Quebec, in the Regional County Municipality of Beauharnois-Salaberry. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 39,672. Situated on an island in the Saint Lawrence River, it is bordered at its western end by Lake Saint Francis, with the Saint...

, the son of Arthur-Alexis Frappier and Bernadette Codebecq, his mother died in 1923 from tuberculosis. This greatly affected him and he pursued a career devoted to fighting this tueuse de maman (mother killer). In 1924, he received a Bachelor of Arts and, in 1930, he received a medical degree from the Université de Montréal

Université de Montréal

The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...

. In 1933, he obtained a Bachelor of Science also from the Université de Montréal.

In 1938, he founded the Institut de microbiologie et d’hygiène de Montréal, the first French-language school of hygiene in the world, and served as its director for 38 years. It was renamed Institut Armand-Frappier in 1975.

He was instrumental in the fight against tuberculosis in Canada and as one of the first researchers to confirm the safety and usefulness of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin is a vaccine against tuberculosis that is prepared from a strain of the attenuated live bovine tuberculosis bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis, that has lost its virulence in humans by being specially subcultured in an artificial medium for 13 years, and also prepared from...

 vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

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In 1929, he married Thérèse Ostiguy. They had four children: Lise, Monique, Michèle and Paul.

Honours

• He was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire
  Order of the British Empire
  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
  
   by King George VI
  George VI of the United Kingdom
  George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
  
  , upon the recommendation of the Canadian government.
• In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada
  Order of Canada
  The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
  
  .
• In 1985, he was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
  National Order of Quebec
  The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
  
  .
• In 1993, the Quebec
  Quebec
  Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
  
   government created the Prix Armand-Frappier
  Prix Armand-Frappier
  The Prix Armand-Frappier is an award by the Government of Quebec, part of the Prix du Québec, "given to people who have pursued a research career and have helped build up a research institution...
  
   in his honour, given every year to a scientist in recognition of his or her career.
• He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
  Royal Society of Canada
  The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
  
  
• On January 17, 2000, Canada Post
  Canada Post
  Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
  
  honoured him with a stamp entitled, Armand Frappier: Champion Disease Fighter.