As Chairman of the Department of Pathology of Brigham and Women's Hospital for 27 years and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School Ramzi S. Cotran M.D. provided inspirational leadership to pathologists worldwide.

Born in Haifa, Palestine in 1932, Dr. Cotran received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He then came to Boston for training in pathology at the Mallory Institute of Pathology and Boston City Hospital, and later was a fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center in New York. In 1960, he began research in experimental pathology with Drs. Edward Kass and Guido Majno at Harvard Medical School and rose in academic rank to become the Frank Burr Mallory Professor of Pathology at Harvard in 1972. From 1965 to 1974, Dr. Cotran served as Staff Pathologist and Director of the Harvard Pathology Unit at the Mallory Institute of Pathology. In 1974, he was appointed Pathologist-in-Chief at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and in 1980 Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (its successor). He was also Pathologist-in-Chief at the Children's Hospital in Boston from 1990 until his death.

Dr. Cotran was a prolific contributor to the specific literature and was the author or co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications. His early work on mechanisms of renal injury and inflammation evolved into an interest in vascular biology. Dr. Cotran, with Dr. Michael Gimbrone and their collaborators, developed critical paradigms including the concept of endothelial activation as well as the molecular understanding of interactions between leukocytes and endothelial cells during inflammatory responses, and cultivated one of the world's most successful centers in vascular biology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Their discoveries led to important advances in the understanding of leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions in inflammation, including identification of the first endothelial specific leukocyte adhesion molecule (ELAM-1, or E-selectin), and the documentation of the importance of endothelial activation and adhesion molecules in-vivo. In renal pathology he is best known for his research into the immunopathology of reflux nephropathy and chronic pyelonephritis, the factors governing glomerular permeability and the role of mononuclear cells in glomerulonephritis.

As an educator, Dr. Cotran played major roles in undergraduate and postgraduate education at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He strongly supported and encouraged teaching by his faculty. Dr. Cotran authored the text "Pathologic Basis of Disease" with Drs. Stanley Robbins and Vinay Kumar, through the 6th Edition, and considered the most widely used textbook of pathology in the world. He received clinical teaching awards at Harvard Medical School, his update course in General Pathology at the USCAP was widely acclaimed and in 1981 he co-directed the Long Course on Inflammation and Infection.

His leadership, wisdom, statesman-like manner and refreshing wit enhanced numerous professional organizations, advisory committees and institutional boards nationally and internationally. Dr. Cotran served as President of the USCAP, the American Association of Pathologists and American Society of Nephrology. He was a long-term trustee of the American Board of Pathology and a member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Pathology.

As Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Director of its Residency and NIH-sponsored institutional training grant programs, Dr. Cotran developed one of the country's most successful training centers in academic pathology and its subspecialties. As Director of the Pathology Residency Program at the Brigham, he shepherded hundreds of young physicians, scientists and physician-scientists through this very challenging stage of their careers. Dr. Cotran considered his role in faculty development and mentoring such graduates his proudest achievement; he had a major role in the career development of at least 20 present or past Chairs of academic departments of pathology, and 25 or more others in pathology leadership positions. As a mentor, teacher, and friend, Ramzi touched the lives of us all.