January 7, 1986
Dear Dr. Freis:
Please accept my sincere regrets at being unable to attend the ceremony honoring your contributions to the Veterans Administration and to the field of hypertension.   Jackie and I would have loved to attend but current circumstances, including two toddlers at home, made it impossible.
When I became a fellow in your hypertension program in 1978, it was my first exposure to medical research.   From observing your work it became apparent that being a scientist required a compulsive regard for objectivity and detail.  At the same time, you always treated your patients as individuals, and gave them the utmost care and respect.  It was this extra dose of humanity and the zest that you brought to your work which will always stand out in my memory.  Now, as I'm in the process of establishing a hypertension research unit at a Brown University facility in Rhode Island, I find that I can answer many of the questions which arise by asking myself "How would Dr. Freis have handled it?".
Again, my congratulations to you on this occasion and my best wishes to you in your new capacity as Distinguished Physician.  I hope to see you at another time in the not-too-distant future.
Sincerely,
Paul D. Levinson, M.D.