Howard A. Rusk

Howard A. Rusk (April 9, 1901 – November 4, 1989) was a prominent physician and founder of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. He was considered to be the founder of rehabilitation medicine.
Born in Brookfield, Missouri, Rusk was active in the Health for Peace movement in the 1950s and supported US efforts to participate more in rehabilitation medicine in international affairs. He was the first recipient of the Pacem in Terris award of the Pope John Paul II Center of Prayer and Study for Peace.

Education

Dr. Rusk graduated from University of Missouri in 1923 and received his medical degree at Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1925.

Legacy

• In 1950, Dr. Rusk founded the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, New York University Medical Center. The Institute was later renamed Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and in 1984, NYU honored Rusk and renamed it Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine.
• In 1954, Dr. Rusk was elected as the President of the American-Korean Foundation.
• In 1955, Dr. Rusk founded the World Rehabilitation Fund.
• In 1964, Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, sent a private airplane for Dr. Rusk and four other rehabilitation experts to visit Taiwan. Three years later, Cheng Hsin Rehabilitation Medical Center, specialized in Poliomyelitis (often called polio or infantile paralysis), was established in 1967.
• In 1977, Dr. Rusk received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

• http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national