Today #MEAction joins the community in mourning the loss of Dr. Ronald G. Tompkins, MD, ScD, who passed away this week.

Ron Tompkins was a clinician, clinical researcher, and friend and ally to people with ME. He was the Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Founding Director of the Center for Surgery, Science, and Bioengineering and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chief of Staff Emeritus at Shriners Hospital for Children – Boston, as well as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and then Chief Medical Officer at the Open Medicine Foundation, where he worked on ME-related research projects, including as head of the OMF-funded Harvard ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center. A research and funding powerhouse, his study “Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury” netted the largest award ever received by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Tompkins was generous with his time and energy, advocating for ME alongside Mass ME advocates like Rivka Solomon. He was interested in ME and its relationship to other inflammatory states such as that seen in burn trauma and sepsis.  He will always be remembered as one of the first research powerhouses to put his knowledge, expertise, and funding experience to work for people with ME.

His compassion and his expertise will be sorely missed. Deepest condolences to his friends and family, and all at Open Medicine Foundation.