Remembering Christopher DM Fletcher

Christopher DM Fletcher, Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Senior Pathologist and Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Chief of Onco-Pathology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA has passed away at the age of 66.

During his stellar career, Christopher spent over 35 years accumulating knowledge in the lab, wrote more than 500 peer reviewed articles, and became well-known for sharing his wisdom across the field. His long-time focus remained on pathologic diagnosis and classification of soft tissue tumors, and, as the recipient of many prestigious rewards – including the FK Mostofi Distinguished Service Award in 2020 – there aren’t many in the pathology world that don’t know his name.

The passing of Christopher DM Fletcher was announced on July 28, 2024, and pathologists across the world have taken to social media to express not only their condolences but also their gratitude. 

One X user said, “Huge loss to the #pathology community, but also to friends and family. Did not get to meet Dr Fletcher in person, sadly, but I've learned so much from him indirectly through his educational and scientific material. May he rest in peace!”

On LinkedIn: “Some losses are irreparable. Rest in peace. The biggest contributor in the field of tumor pathology”.

At The Pathologist, we’ve collaborated with Christopher on multiple occasions. To no one's surprise, he made his way onto the Power List multiple times and we were honored to work closely with him on this insightful article in 2020. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Christopher’s exemplary career.

“I did reasonably well in most subjects – pathology just somehow grabbed my attention. I realized that it’s important because it’s the underpinning of so many parts of medicine. I understood clearly that pathology was the field for me when I was taking the medical school final examinations. If you knew pathology, you could answer 80 percent of every exam paper. Pathology is incredibly important.”

All of us at The Pathologist send our deepest condolences to Christopher’s family, friends, and colleagues. He will be sorely missed.