We are thrilled to announce a new blog post series on the UNMC ID blog: microBio. microBio is a biographical exploration of the lives and careers of ID physicians and scientists at UNMC segmented into multiple periodic installations. In this series, we will gain a deeper understanding of the professionals and leaders who have worked tirelessly to make UNMC ID better.
Who better to be our inaugural featured physician than Dr. Mark Rupp, outgoing Chief of Infectious Disease here at UNMC. Dr. Rupp has been an incredibly impactful force for good during his tenure at UNMC ID. We recently recognized his continued service in educating the public on ID topics on Rural Health Matters, a television show that features experts discussing various health topics and their impact on farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans. In the same vein, he was also recently awarded the prestigious Bartee Advocacy of Science Award in recognition of his exceptional community engagement as a scientist. Dr. Rupp has also garnered national recognition as well, having previously served as president of the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and as a consultant for the FDA, CDC, NIH, and the VA. He has also published well over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles. As you will see during the series of upcoming microBio posts, these achievements only scratch the surface of the positive changes he oversaw in the Division and University at large. Dr. Rupp plans to stay on as faculty for several more years, and we thank him for his leadership through pandemics, outbreaks, and impressive growth in the Division.
Please tune in to the upcoming 3 microBio posts exploring Dr. Rupp’s career, life, and advice/outlook for the next generation of ID professionals. For now, though, enjoy a sneak peek below, where Dr. Rupp offers how he got interested in medicine and how that interest matured into a passion for ID?
I have had a life-long interest in biology/life science. My mother related that she thought I would be a doctor when I showed an interest during elementary school in microbiologists and “Microbe Hunters” a book published back in 1926 by the famous bacteriologist Paul De Kruifl (and no, despite common belief, I was not around to work with Dr. De Kruif or read the initial release). I earned a degree in Chemical Engineering because I’ve always been a “belt and suspenders” kind of person and wanted to have a profession to fall back on if I was not able to get into med school. While in medical school at Baylor College of Medicine (a few years before Dr. Cortes-Penfield – also a Baylor grad), I thought I wanted to be a surgeon. I ended up going into Internal Medicine due to the very broad career choices available and eventually came around to ID because “you just got to love them bugs!”
-Dr. Mark E. Rupp