C. Miller Fisher, MD, a pioneering neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital for 50 years and professor of neurology, emeritus, at Harvard Medical School, died on April 14, 2012, in Albany, N.Y. He was 98.
Fisher received a BA from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1935, and an MD from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1938. He also received a JD from Waterloo Lutheran University, Canada, in 1971.
Fisher joined the Royal Canadian Navy after completing medical school, where he served as a surgical lieutenant until his ship, the HMS Voltaire, was sunk by a German submarine in 1941. He spent more than three years in a Nazi prison camp, returned to Canada after the war and completed his neurological studies at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1948. He joined the MGH staff in 1954.
Miller’s research into the causes, treatment and prevention of strokes earned him a reputation as a founder of modern stroke neurology. He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998. His work examined the relationship between strokes and blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation. He also showed the relationship between stroke and narrowing of the carotid artery.
It was Fisher who coined the term transient ischemic attack, and recognized TIAs as warning signs of stroke. He was responsible for training generations of neurologists.
A longtime Winchester resident, Fisher is survived by his sons, Hugh, of Albany, N.Y., and Peter, of Portland, Ore., and a daughter, Elizabeth, of Las Cruces, N.M., and four grandchildren.
A memorial service was held at the Winchester Unitarian Society and a celebration of Fisher’s life is planned to take place during the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Boston this October.
