User:Ktin/sandbox/Mary Fowkes

Mary Fowkes (died November 15, 2020) was an American doctor and neuropathologist. She is noted for her early autopsies of COVID-19 that helped identified long term effects of the novel coronavirus. Her findings that victims had suffered multiple organ failures resulted in the recommendation for use of blood thinners as a part of the treatment process.

Early life
Fowkes was born in Clayton, New York on November 1, 1954 to Isabel and Glen Fowkes. Her mother was a social worker and her father was an insurance underwriter. She grew up in Syracuse, New York and graduated from State University of New York College of Envirnmental Science, Syracuse, before joining Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York.

Research
Fowkes and her team at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York, studied COVID-19 victims, when not much was known about the virus and its impacts. Based on initial learnings, the impact of the disease was considered largely respiratory. i.e. its impact was limited to the lungs. However, when Fowkes and her team performed autopsies on patiences, they found that virus had impacted not only the lungs, but, also the patients' other vital organs, leading the team to believe that the virus had probably traversed the body through endothelial cells through the blood vessels. The team found that patients had microscopic blood clots in a few organs, including the lungs, and heart, but, had significant clots in the brain, indicating that the patients had suffered from strokes.

The findings from autopsies performed by Fowkes and her team led to the increased use of blood thinners as a part of the treatment process resulting in improved responses in many patients.

Working Papers
Unrefereed preprint of a paper detailing findings by Fowkes and team:

Death
Fowkes died on November 15, 2020 of a heart attack at her house in Katonah, New York. She was aged 66.