A native of
Brooklyn, New York, Fischer was a
summa cum laude graduate of
Yeshiva University and a magna cum laude graduate of
Harvard Medical School. He completed his internship and surgical residency at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. From 1963 -1965 Fischer served as a Research Associate under Nobel Laureate
Julius Axelrod at the
National Institutes of Health and in 1968 began working as a Teaching Fellow in Surgery and Fellow of the
American Cancer Society at
Harvard Medical School. Fischer joined the faculty of
Harvard Medical School in 1970. He served as head of the Surgical Physiological Laboratory and Chief of the Hyperalimentation Unit at
Massachusetts General Hospital before assuming the position of Christian R. Holmes Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1978. In addition to his responsibilities as chairman, Fischer served as a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and Associate Dean for Community Affairs at the
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Fischer recruited 29 surgeons in his first 3 years at Beth Israel Deaconess, which was key in mending the institution's finances, after a 1996 merger resulted in a loss of more than $280 Million for the hospital. Fischer's research expertise includes nutritional support,
cachexia, sepsis, enterocutaneous fistulas, and surgical education. In 1999 Fischer was one of 24 surgeons to be recognized by
Archives of Surgery for having made "significant contributions to surgery in the areas of research, clinical care, and surgical education" in the 20th century. Fischer published over 850 journal articles and edited 21 books including the standard surgical textbook, Mastery of Surgery. He has served on the editorial board for 13 journals including
The American Journal of Surgery,
Journal of American College of Surgeons,
Archives of Surgery,
Journal of Surgical Research, and
Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. In 2008, Dr.
Carol Warfield sued
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
Paul Levy, the former CEO of
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians and Fischer for discrimination and retaliation. The parties resolved their dispute in February 2013 when Beth Israel Deaconess paid Warfield $7 million, clarified its policies and procedures for employees to report discrimination, agreed to sponsor a lecture series on women's health and women's achievement in surgery, and named the hospital's pain clinic in Warfield's honor. In reaching the agreement, the Defendants denied any wrongdoing in the matter and there was no judicial finding of wrongdoing on behalf of Fischer. Fischer died in 2021. ==Offices==