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Richard D. Bukoski, Ph.D.
February 24, 1954 - March 2, 2004
Richard Bukoski, Ph.D., a member of the American
Physiological Society since 1980, died of natural causes on March 2, 2004.
He is survived by his wife Heidi, his parents, and his four children,
Conrad, Jacob, Isaac and Sarah-Anne. At the time of this death, Dick was
Professor of Biology and Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Research
Program at the Biomedical, Biotechnology Research Institute at North
Carolina Central University (NCCU), Durham.
Dick’s research, which has been supported
by NIH funding since 1988, had the long range goal of understanding the
molecular mechanisms that link whole animal Ca2+ homeostasis with
vascular function. Among his accomplishments were description of the
effects of 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 and non-calcemic
analogues of the secosteroid on vascular smooth muscle phenotype,
intracellular Ca2+ metabolism, and contractility; the
demonstration of a Ca2+-activated, perivascular sensory nerve
dependent vasodilator system in isolated arteries; the finding that sensory
nerves express a Ca2+ sensing receptor that is homologous with
that initially described in the parathyroid gland; and providing the first
evidence that an endocannabinoid-like ligand may serve as the transmitter
that is released from perivascular nerves in response to elevation of
extracellular Ca2+. More recently, his
group found that dorsal root ganglion calcium sensing receptor cDNA arises
from tissue-specific alternative splicing of a single gene, that its amino
acid sequence is homologous to other known calcium sensing receptors, and
that the it undergoes differential posttranslational processing relative to
the thyroparathyroid calcium sensing receptor and is functionally active
when transfected into a human-derived cell line. The goal was to
understand the relationship between dietary calcium and blood pressure.
Dick took his current position to improve
the advanced biomedical science education of African Americans, as Director
of an NHLBI funded initiative. He left a tenured position (Professor of
Medicine) at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in order
to develop a program to train African American medical scientists. He was
able to attract and nurture a number of young trainees, and placed them in
outstanding graduate programs at Johns Hopkins, Duke and the University of
North Carolina. In addition he has had a major role in establishing the
infrastructure for biomedical research at NCCU, a traditionally African
American university, where he established the first biomedical research
program. This involved building from the ground up: establishing the
infrastructure for animal research, initiating the J-1 visa program for
foreign scientists, helping to reactivate University radiation safety
guidelines, and equipping major core facilities needed for modern biomedical
research. His leadership, creativity and cooperation at NCCU has been the
cornerstone of the success of this program, and will be sorely missed.
Before going to NCCU, Dick led research
groups at the the Oregon Health Sciences University and at University of
Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. It was in Oregon, when working with David
McCarron, that he developed his interest in the role of dietary calcium in
hypertension. In Galveston he expanded this work and developed his interest
in the neuronal control of vascular function in collaboration with Donald
DiPette.
Dick received his undergraduate degree
from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio and his PhD from Baylor College of
Medicine under the guidance of Julius Allen, working on the sodium pump in
vascular smooth muscle. He did postdoctoral work at Michigan State
University with Harvey Sparks, where he studied the regulation of adenosine
formation by mitochondria.
As a scientist, Dick was both a leader and
a team player. In either role, he convinced with logic, a candid
communication style, and evident concern for the other person. He was not
afraid of hard work, but knew better than to limit his interests to his own
research. He contributed to the scientific community by serving on review
panels for both the National Institutes of Health and American Heart
Association, and was a member of the Hypertension Council of the American
Heart Association, and the Editorial Board of Hypertension.
He participated in the broader community,
as well as the scientific community. For example, he was Scoutmaster of the
year in Galveston. He loved the outdoors, especially the Oregon Coast, the
Outer Banks and Galveston Bay. Dick was a good friend and a great family
man. He was devoted to Heidi and his four children.
Dick gave much to society
through his research and teaching, his special efforts to bring more African
Americans into the mainstream of science, and through his devotion to his
family and community. We regret that he did not have more time among us.
- Harvey Sparks
- Julius Allen
- Donald Dipette
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