Medical School Professor Dies at 67

Ramzi S. Cotran, a longtime Harvard Medical School (HMS) professor and internationally recognized expert in pathology, died of cancer at his Brookline home last Monday. He was 67.

Cotran was professor of pathology at HMS and chair of the pathology department of both the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Children's Hospital in Boston. He is perhaps best known for being the senior writer of Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease since 1979.

"Everyone around the world reads [the textbook] as a medical student," said HMS Professor of Pathology Christopher D.M. Fletcher.

Cotran authored more than 180 research papers and led many national and international professional organizations in pathology and nephrology.

Janina A. Longtine, a student and colleague of Cotran, said his specialties were experimental vascular biology and kidney pathology.

Fletcher said that Cotran not only had an unusual grasp of the broad field of pathology, but also a full knowledge of each of his roles in that field.

"He was extraordinary as a clinician, as a teacher, as a researcher," Fletcher said.

Under Cotran's guidance since 1974, the pathology department at Brigham and Women's grew from modest origins to, in Longtine's words, "what we would call the best in the country," an improvement which she attributed to Cotran's efforts towards developing "good communication between clinicians and scientists."

Longtine said that Cotran taught students "to value the interface between science and medicine" as well as to have confidence in their personal ability to further the field of pathology.

Both colleagues emphasized Cotran's personable nature and what Fletcher called his "extraordinary appreciation of people."

Cotran sought to improve aspiring doctors while advancing their careers, Fletcher said.

"In the incredible hierarchy of Harvard Medical School, he was approachable," Longtine said.

Fletcher said Cotran's "careful attention to the needs of others" was what "inspired the most devotion in those around him."

"He wore his accomplishments with joy rather than with pride," Fletcher said.

Born in Haifa in what is now Israel, Cotran received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the American University of Beirut. He became an HMS professor in 1960.

HMS awarded him the Dean's Award for Support and Advancement of Women Faculty and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Mentoring.

Cotran is survived by his wife, Kerstin L. Cotran, his four children, his sister, three brothers and 11 grandchildren.