ABOUT

Stephen L. DeFelice, M.D., Founder and Chairmen, 1976

  • First generation Italian American, son of Italian immigrants
  • Temple University, B.A. degree, 1957
  • Jefferson Medical College, 1961
  • Primarius, Phi Alpha Sigma Fraternity
  • Joseph’s College and Villanova University, Philadelphia: Courses in Philosophy
  • Physician on call for the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
  • NIH Fellow in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Disease, Jefferson Medical College
  • Pfizer Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at St. Vincent’s Medical Center. Brought carnitine into the United States and conducted the first U.S. clinical study in patients with hyperthyroidism. Obtained four patents on carnitine for cardiology and oncology claims. Carnitine is now FDA approved for the treatment of Primary Carnitine Deficiency, a fatal disease in children.
  • Captain, U.S. Army: Chief of Clinical Pharmacology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) during the Vietnam War in charge of developing drugs for the Department of Defense. Responsible for the design, placing and monitoring of clinical trials. Also conducted laboratory studies with Major James Vick demonstrating that carnitine protects the ischemic heart as well as against a variety of cardiovascular toxic substances such as doxorubicin and Russell’s Viper venom.
  • NIH courses in biochemistry
  • Visiting Assoc. Professor of Pharmacology, Hahnemann Medical College
  • Associate Director of Clinical Research, Ortho Pharmaceuticals
  • Medical Director at Pfizer, Inc. ( Clinical Research, Roerig and Pfizer Labs). Member of the team which brought lithium into the U.S. and  responsible for its launch, including clinical studies and educating physicians. Member of Public Policy team
  • Medical Director at Medcom. Established the Peer Group approach for data evaluation. Responsible for the evaluation of laboratory and clinical research data in the joint venture of Montedison and Hercules to form the U.S. company, Adria
  • Founder and President of Bio/Basics International, the first major independent Clinical Research Organization or CRO with a large international board of distinguished medical experts such as Drs. Emil Frei, Louis Lasagna, Michael DeBakey and Silvio Garattini
  • Partner in Med-Tek: A medical consultant group in the Middle East
  • Founder of SDF Consultants: an international pharmaceutical consulting company including experiences in joint ventures and responsible for the acquisition of Schiaparelli by G.D. Searle
  • Collaborated with the Italian pharmaceutical firm, Sigma Tau, Inc. in Rome, to obtain two FDA approved carnitine indications- primary carnitine deficiency, a fatal, rare cardiac disease in children, and carnitine deficiency in renal dialysis patients
  • Founder and Chairman of FIM, the non-profit Foundation for Innovation in Medicine in 1976. FIM’s mission is to accelerate medical discovery
  • Former member of the Harvard School of Public Health International Faculty for Management of Biomedical Research
  • Former member of the Tufts’ Center for Clinical Drug Development International Faculty
  • Collaborated with Farmindustria in Italy to bring Harvard and Tufts faculty to teach Italian scientists and managers regarding pharmaceutical development and management
  • Coined the term “nutraceutical” in 1989 which is now in the Oxford English (where he is credited for its coinage) and other dictionaries. Also given credit by On Language by William Saffire in the New York Times
  • A nutraceutical is a dietary supplement or pharmaceutical whose efficacy and safety have been demonstrated in clinical studies
  • Designed the Nutraceutical Research and Education Act, NREA, which was introduced in Congress by Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ), 1999. The purpose of the Act is to promote clinical research on nutraceuticals
  • Coined the term “doctornauts”, physicians who can volunteer for clinical research at greater risk than non-physicians in order to accelerate clinical research and, therefore, medical discovery
  • Designed the Doctornaut Act. Senator Bill Frist, physician and former Senate Majority Leader , had Legislative Council draft the Discussion Draft of the Doctornaut Act which was circulated.
  • Chaired multiple FIM nutraceutical conferences for the pharmaceutical, food and dietary supplement industries as well as government and media for over a decade.
  • Keynote speaker at international conferences, including Vita Foods Nutraceuticals Europe 2012, Italian Chemical Society Congress 2014, La Revolution Nutraceutique Paris 1990, Il Prodotto Dietetico, Capri 1986
  • Author of basic and clinical research articles, books as well as chapters in books, articles in lay media such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal
  • Multiple television appearances include Good Morning America, The Today Show, Regis Philbin, David Susskind, etc. Also, on numerous radio programs
  • Books include Drug Discovery: The Pending Crisis (1972), From Oysters to Insulin: Nature and Medicine at Odds (1986), Memory Loss: Normal vs. Abnormal (1987), La Revolution Nutraceutique, 1990, Nutraceuticals: Developing, Claiming and Marketing Medical Foods, 1998, The Carnitine Defense (1999), Maybe-Ism: The Emoji Brain in Search of a Personal God (2018), Grandpa’s Words of Wisdom: Where You Are, Where You’re Heading, And What To Do About It, 2021
  • Novels include: Old Italian Neighborhood Values (2002), He Made Them Young Again (2006), Dr. Julian: What Woman Do You Want Me to Be? (2017)
  • A Maverick’s Odyssey: One Doctor’s Quest to Conquer Disease (2007): A book about Dr. DeFelice authored by Michael Mannion who chronicles his crusade to continue carnitine research and his efforts to accelerate medical discovery during his entire career including the NREA and Doctornaut Act
  • FIM launched the Cure Care, Health Care Cost Reduction and Doctornaut Initiative- 2011. This effort offers the argument that the NREA and Doctornaut Acts would dramatically reduce health care costs
  • Was the UNICO National Marconi Science Award recipient for a distinguished Italian-American for medical and scientific innovation
  • Launch of the DeFelice Galaxy on FIM, 2025
  • His unfulfilled carnitine clinical study mission which began in the late 60’s at WRAIR collaborating with the aforementioned cardiovascular pharmacologist, Major James Vick and at M.D. Anderson by oncologist, Sam Barranco, followed by others. A summary: a) carnitine can  kill -apoptosis- certain cancer cells b) carnitine blocks the toxicity of certain anti-cancer drugs which may permit them to be given at higher doses which could increase their apoptotic effect and c) carnitine itself augments the apoptosis effect of certain anti-cancer drugs. A clinical study was planned with carnitine and doxorubicin in a type of sarcoma  by distinguished oncologist Dr. Emil Frei at the Dana Farber Institute, but fate got in the way.