Dr. Howard Rasmussen

RASMUSSEN-Dr. Howard. Founding Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, died on April 20, 2005, after a prolonged illness. He was formerly Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Professor and Chief of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven. Dr. Rasmussen is remembered for his many scientific accomplishments and his pivotal role in the establishment of the Institute at MCG. Born on March 1, 1925, Dr. Rasmussen grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania with his five brothers. His young adult years were spent as a soldier on the front lines of the European Theater of Operations. He was twice wounded, earning him a purple heart with oak leaf clusters. Through the G.I. bill, he attended Gettysburg College and graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in 1948. From there he went to the medical school at Harvard University, again graduating Magna cum Laude in 1952. Dr. Rasmussen completed his post-graduate medical training in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital before pursuing a research fellowship at University College in London (England). He was among the first to isolate parathyroid hormone before returning to the US and earning a doctoral degree in 1959 in Biochemistry and Physiology from Rockefeller University. He then obtained an Assistant Professorship at Rockefeller, where he remained until 1961, when he accepted a position as Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was then recruited as the Benjamin Rush Professor and Chairman of Biochemistry to the University of Pennsylvania. With research focused on parathyroid hormone, vitamin D, calcitonin and aldosterone action, Dr. Rasmussen was one of the first scientists to appreciate the importance of calcium as a signaling molecule at a time when most research concentrated on cyclic AMP as second messenger. In 1976 Dr. Rasmussen accepted a position as Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology and Chief of the Endocrinology and Metabolism section at Yale Medical School. His research in aldosterone and insulin secretion and vascular smooth muscle contraction resulted in hundreds of publications in prestigious scientific journals, large amounts of federal funding, multiple awards and honors. In 1993, Dr. Rasmussen accepted the challenge to establish and direct a new Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at MCG. He retired in 2000. His wife, Jane Spence, whom he married in 1952 and who remained by his side until her death in 1999, predeceased Dr. Rasmussen. He has four children: Gail, Paul, Jane, and Craig. He is sorely missed by his family and academic offsprings.