In Memoriam 1952-2001

 

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[photo]Maureen Andrew, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto, Canada, died unexpectedly on August 28, 2001, at the age of 48. We mourn a brilliant scientist and clinician, and a dedicated teacher and mentor.

Dr. Andrew, a native of Quebec, Canada, received her medical degree in 1976 from the University of Manitoba, Canada. She spent 2 years of internship and residency at her alma mater and completed a 3-year fellowship in Pediatric Hematology at New York University Medical Center in New York. In 1981 she joined the faculty of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as assistant professor of pediatrics and rose to the rank of full professor during the following 10 years. At the time of her death, Dr. Andrew was a clinician-scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and co-director of the Pediatric Hemostasis Research Program. She was a member of several professional societies and served on a large number of national and international committees, including the Society of Pediatric Research (president), the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (Board of Trustees), and the International Society for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (chairperson of the Subcommittee on Perinatal Hemostasis), to name a few. She traveled and lectured all over the world and authored or coauthored over 250 scientific articles, review articles, and book chapters.

Dr. Andrew pioneered the developmental aspects of hemostasis in prenatal life, in newborn children, and in childhood and delineated the most critical physiologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms. She clearly established the fact that “children are not little adults.” Dr. Andrew was the first to draw attention to thrombosis in childhood and systematically charted its epidemiology through the Canadian Registry of Pediatric Thrombosis. She addressed the crucial issues of anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of childhood thromboses and conducted the first four randomized controlled trials on anticoagulant therapies in pediatrics. She generously shared her expertise with others by establishing 1-800-NO-CLOTS, a free consulting service available 24 hours, 7 days a week to answer related questions brought to her from clinicians all over the world. She developed educational materials for healthcare providers and for lay persons that aided in clinical issues around thromboembolism in childhood.

Dr. Andrew was an enthusiastic teacher and mentor for many young clinicians and researchers. The scientific community will greatly miss her.