Dr. Frizzell received his bachelor of science in 1966 from Juniata College in Huntington, Pa., and his doctorate in physiology in 1970 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He held various positions there, including an associate professorship in the department of physiology, until 1979, when he became associate professor in the department of cell biology and physiology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.
Dr. Frizzell remained in that position until 1981, when he became a professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. There, he was affiliated with the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, which he directed from 1991 to 1994. In 1993, he also became a professor in the department of cell biology at the University of Alabama.
In addition to holding a United States Public Health Service (U.S.P.H.S.) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from 1970 to 1972 and receiving a U.S.P.H.S. Development Award from 1976 to 1981, Dr. Frizzell was also honored with the Doris F. Tulcin Cystic Fibrosis Research Award in 1988.
Dr. Frizzell is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Physiological Society, the Society of General Physiologists and the American Society for Cell Biology. Since 1988, he has been the vice chairman and member-at-large of the medical advisory council for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
He is on the international editorial board of the scientific journal Gene Therapy and has authored or co-authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications.