Andrew Almon Fletcher

A. Almon Fletcher graduated in 1913 from the University of Toronto with an M.B. (qualifying him for the practice of medicine). From 1915 to 1918 he served overseas in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. After WW I, he became a staff member of the department of medicine of the University of Toronto and of the medical service of Toronto General Hospital. He qualified F.R.C.P.C. in 1930. He was an assistant professor in the department of medicine of the University of Toronto and a senior physician at Toronto General Hospital from 1922 to 1951 when he retired from Toronto General Hospital. In 1951 he was put in charge of the clinical investigation unit at Toronto's Sunnybrook Military Hospital,[2] which in 1973 became Sunnybrook Medical Centre.

At Toronto General Hospital, in the diabetes ward under the direction of Duncan Archibald Graham, the physicians A. Almon Fletcher and Walter R. Campbell[3] were responsible for the treatment of Leonard Thompson, a teenaged charity case with a severe case of type 1 diabetes, who had been transferred on 2 December 1921 from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.[4] Dr. Campbell persuaded Leonard Thompson's father to consent to the experimental test on his son of the pancreatic extract supplied by Banting, Best, and Macleod. The historic injection of insulin took place on 11 January 1922.[3]

The spring of 1922 was a period of consolidation. Visitors came from all countries of the western world. Especially memorable were Petren from Oslo, Woodyatt from Chicago and Wilder from Mayo's—these men were largely instrumental in the development of the high-fat diets then in vogue—and Elliott Joslin and F. M. Allen, who were advocates of starvation and undernutrition. They made no effort to conceal their excitement and unbounded admiration. During this time further physiological papers appeared, describing the associated effects of insulin in addition to its influence on carbohydrate and fat metabolism. A method of pharmacological assay was devised and the unit defined.[5]

According to Dr. Fletcher in 1962:

Most of our patients went on to live normal, useful and happy lives. One writes me each Christmas; he now informs me tha he has reached the age when regretfully he must retire. Last Christmas, he sent me only a short note—"1922, remember."[6]

In 1953 Fletcher and Campbell were both awarded Banting Medals by the American Diabetes Association.[7]

On 21 September 1921 in Toronto, A. Almon Fletcher married Helen Waterston Mowat (1895–1945). They had four daughters.

His burial took place at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. He was a great-grandson of Sir Oliver Mowat.