Robert Howe, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Area of Expertise: Hematology

Dr. Howe became Professor Emeritus in 2009.  He was a Professor of Medicine and until 2004 was the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Graduate Affairs.

Following graduation from Union College in 1958, Dr. Howe attended the Harvard Medical School where he graduated cum laude in 1962. He was a medicine resident, hematology fellow and Chief Resident at the University of Minnesota from 1962-1967.

After three years as Assistant Clinical Director of the National Cancer Institute (NIH) in Bethesda, he joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine of the University of Minnesota in 1970.

His research interests were in jaundice, bilirubin metabolism, liver disease, anemia and thrombocytopenia, particularly the treatment of refractory ITP.

Selected Publications

Howe RB, Christie DJ. Clinical application of protein A immunoabsorption in thrombocytopenic disorders. Tranfusion Science 1994; 15: 423-427.

Enright H, Jacob HS, Vercellotti GM, et al. Paraneoplastic autoimmune phenomena in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: Response to immunosuppressive therapy. Brit J Haematology 1995; 91: 403-408.

Gaddis T, Guthrie T, Mettelman A, Howe RB, Sahird M, Broten A. Treatment of plasma refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura with protein immunoabsorption. Am J Hem 1997; 55: 55-58.

Howe RB. Reaching informed institutional decisions about graduate medical education program size. Assoc Am Med Colleges 1997; 11.

Robiner WN, Howe, RB, Ziegler R, Erlandson JV. Do changes in the health care system warrant changes in the standards for accreditation of training programs? Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems 1998; 32(3): 1-4.

Howe RB. Doing more with less, the evolution of physician residency at the University of Minnesota. Minnesota Physician 1998; 7(5): 42-46.

Howe RB. Case 4-2001: Acute sarcoidosis. N Engl J Med 2001; 344:1557.

Howe RB, Porwit-MacDonald A, Wanat R, Tehranchi R, Hellstrom-Lindberg E. The WHO classification of MDS does make a difference. Blood 2004; 103:3265-3270.

Watson K, Harris I, Patow C, Breitenbucher J, Howe R. SYMPAL (SYstems-based Medical Practice and Learning): A pilot project. ACGME Bulletin, November 2004; 3-5.

Tehranchi R, Fadeel B, Schmidt-Mende J, Forsblom AM, Emanuelsson E, Jadersten M, Christensson B, Hast R, Howe RB, Samuelsson J, Zhivotovsky B, Hellstrom-Lindberg E. Antiapoptotic role of growth factors in the myelodysplastic syndromes: Concordance between in vitro and in vivo observations. Clinical Cancer Research 2005; 11:6291-9.

Elimelakh M, Dayton V, Park KS, Gruessner AC, Sutherland D, Howe RB, Reding MT, Eastlund T, van Burik J, Singleton TP, Gruessner RW, Key NS. Red cell aplasia and autoimmune hemolytic anemia following immunosuppression by alemtuzumab, mycophenolate, and daclizumab in pancreas transplant recipients. Haematologica/THJ 92:1029-36, 2007.