Features
Kat Braz
The Purdue Herbaria

An insider’s look at a university collection so valuable, the professor who built it once stole it back.

The earliest herbarium—a collection of plant samples preserved for scientific study—dates to 16th-century Italy, when the Bologna physician and botanist Luca Ghini (1490–1556) sought to make plant material available to his students in winter when the plants were dead or dormant.

The specimens were flattened between two pieces of paper to remove moisture. Once dried, they were mounted on paper sheets with notations on the plant’s name, where the plant was gathered, and any distinctive features. The pages were bound into volumes to enable transport from one location to another, thus making plant material from faraway places available indefinitely.

The Purdue Herbaria
Features
Kat Braz
A Window into Westwood Manor

The Stewarts at Westwood

Robert Bruce Stewart (HDR M’68), known as R.B., joined the Purdue University staff as controller in 1925. At that time, Purdue enrolled 3,000 students, the physical plant was worth $3 million, and the endowment totaled $340,000.

Stewart, who went on to become the university’s first vice president and treasurer, is credited by many with influencing the character and growth of Purdue University. He spent 36 years building the university both fiscally and physically.

A Window into Westwood Manor
Profiles
Kat Braz
A Story in Stones

Geochemist Marissa Tremblay ’12 analyzes Antarctic rocks to unravel Earth’s climate chronology and predict the planet’s future environment

A geologic field excursion to Death Valley during spring break her first year at Barnard set Marissa Tremblay ’12 on course to becoming a scientist. She entered college intending to pursue a law degree, but stepping foot on that vast, desolate desert landscape marked with sand dunes ignited a curiosity to uncover the stories in stones.

A Story in Stones
Features
Kat Braz
Call of the Wild

50 Years of Wolf Park

Founded by Purdue ethologist Erich Klinghammer in 1972, Wolf Park began as an experiment to study wolf behavior. The pioneering research conducted there over the past 50 years contributed to a better understanding of the apex predator and facilitated its reintroduction into the wild.

Call of the Wild
Profiles
Kat Braz
Come From Away

Twenty Years After 9/11 Longhorn Reflects on the Unexpected Detour—and the Subsequent Broadway Show—that Altered His Life’s Trajectory

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kevin Tuerff and his then-partner, also named Kevin, were on an Air France flight bound for New York City. The couple had just wrapped up a European vacation and they were eager to get home. A sudden drop in elevation over the Atlantic Ocean was the first sign that something was amiss. Then came an announcement from the cockpit.

Come From Away

Health & Wellness

Patients Before Profits

Patients Before Profits

Greg Baker leads AffirmedRx, a pharmacy benefit manager and public benefit corporation that’s shaking up the traditional pharmaceutical supply chain

Greg Baker is angry. He thinks you should be angry, too. 

He’s on a crusade to reform traditional pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the companies that manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of health insurers. In May 2023, Baker testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability that a handful of large PBMs control up to 80% of the market, to the detriment of the American public.

Food As Medicine

Food As Medicine

Center for Health Excellence, Quality and Innovation launches Nutrition Hub at IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indy

Sufficient access to high-quality, nutritious food is necessary for overall health, but nearly 13% of U.S. households face food insecurity. A new initiative launched by the Center for Health Excellence, Quality and Innovation (CHEQI) in the College of Pharmacy aims to integrate nutrition and health care, raising awareness for the concept of food as medicine and providing patients with nutritious food tailored to their individual medical needs. 

The Nutrition Hub, which opened at IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in November 2023, is a partnership between CHEQI, the American Heart Association and Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, the largest hunger relief organization in the state.

Pioneering the Future of Patient Engagement

Pioneering the Future of Patient Engagement

R’Kes Starling leverages technology to expand access to clinical trials for underrepresented populations 

It all started with his mother. That’s how R’Kes Starling (BS ’02) attributes his inspiration for founding Reveles, an AI-powered patient engagement company that partners with drug sponsors and research institutions to increase awareness and expand clinical trial access to underrepresented patients. By prioritizing diversity within studies, Reveles helps to ensure marginalized communities do not miss out on life-changing care while simultaneously advancing a more equitable approach to health care. 

Purdue Nuclear Pharmacy

Purdue Nuclear Pharmacy

Oldest and largest program in the country leverages industry partnerships to advance radiopharmaceutical training in Indianapolis

In 1946, nearly 50 years after the Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie coined the term radioactivity, Purdue University received the first shipment of radioactive materials for use in the development of medical therapy from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

John E. Christian (BS ’39, PhD HHS ’44), a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, was conducting pioneering research in the emerging field of bionucleonics, a term that reportedly originated from then Purdue President Frederick Hovde to describe the biological application of nuclear physics. At the time, Christian was one of a handful of people in the country accomplishing meaningful work in peaceful uses of radioactive materials. 

Hazards Lurk in Fresh-Scented Cleaning Products

Hazards Lurk in Fresh-Scented Cleaning Products

Mopping produces pollutants similar to vehicle emissions

The fresh-scented products used to clean our homes and offices come with risks to our respira-tory health. The chemicals used to create scents such as lemon and pine pollute indoor air with nano-sized particles in similar ways that motor emissions affect the air we breathe outdoors, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

A Second Chance at Life, Career

A Second Chance at Life, Career

Nursing student’s midlife career change motivated by desire to pay it forward

Kris Kavelaris insists he’s done nothing heroic.

The MATC nursing student and 2020 inductee in the Fresenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame — recognizing individuals nationwide who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to blood donation — credits the team of nurses who exhibited kindness, support and motivation as he spent four months recovering at Froedtert Hospital from a horrific auto accident in 1998.

They are the heroes, he says.

The Kidney Campaign

The Kidney Campaign

A U-M connection led to an altruistic organ donation, despite COVID-19 and a cancer scare.

For years, Ed Silberman lived a relatively normal life during the day. But every night, the 63-year-old financial adviser from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, went through two rounds of peritoneal dialysis, which uses the abdominal lining to filter blood inside the body. At his age, a normal kidney functions at 85% or higher. By fall 2019, Silberman’s kidneys were functioning at 7%.

As one of 100,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, his best hope was to match with a living donor. So Silberman’s family, including son-in-law Jeremy Garson, JD’14, launched a social media campaign to find a stranger to save Silberman’s life.

Finding Her Way

Finding Her Way

Alumna embarks on a 500-mile journey to grapple with her devastating diagnosis and advance breast cancer screening for others

The pilgrim gripped each stone, one by one, turning it over in her hand. She felt its weight and ran her finger over its surface before laying it gently down at the base of the Cruz de Ferro.

One stone for each of her four Sigma Kappa sorority sisters who had died of breast cancer, one of whom passed away since Leslie Ferris Yerger (M’84, S’85) embarked on her 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago. She solemnly closed her eyes and thought of Toni Mark Hicks (S’84), Madelon (Moulton) Shahroozi (HHS’86), Nancy Keil Slamkowski (HHS’84), and Sally (Shock) Wurster (LA’87). Less than one year following her own diagnosis, Yerger reflected on their too-short lives.