Mary Fowkes

Mary Fowkes (November 1, 1954 – November 15, 2020) was an American physician and neuropathologist. She is noted for her early autopsies of COVID-19 victims that significantly contributed to the identification of 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 Mary 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 then a continued her studies as a physician assistant working with Hahnemann University of Philadelphia. 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 New York Times noted that working with oscillating saws to open the skulls of COVID-19 victims during autopsies, in order to remove the brain, potentially exposed her to the virus through aerosolized fragments of the bone and droplets of blood.

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

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