1988 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year

Randolph Howes

Professor Randolph M. Howes M.D., Ph.D. was born on August 17, 1943 in a small rural
hospital in Madisonville, Louisiana. While at the hospital, an accidental hip burn
from a heating pad introduced Dr. Howes to the harsh realities of life. Raised on
a small bucolic strawberry farm in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Dr. Howes learned ethics,
morality, hard work and respect for his fellow man at a young age. Humble beginnings
launched his lifetime trek of achievement as a scientist, surgeon, writer, visionary,
philanthropist, international lecturer, singer, songwriter, business entrepreneur,
broadcaster, inventor, corporate executive and rancher.

He attended St. Joseph’s elementary school for eight years, served as an altar boy
and sang in the choir. Next, he attended Ponchatoula High School where he finished
as President of the Student Council by winning an election over the school’s quarterback
of the football team. He attributes this hard-fought win to his guitar playing and
singing abilities. Dr. Howes began playing self-taught guitar professionally at 13
years of age. In 1961, Dr. Howes entered Southeastern Louisiana College (now Southeastern
Louisiana University), where he took premed courses, made the Dean’s list, made the
honors chemistry class, worked 40 hours/week at the Psychology Research Laboratory
under Dr. John R. Nichols, played music in his 3 piece combo, named The Three Blind
Mice, and was elected as president of the Catholic Youth Organization, the Inter-fraternity
Council and the Junior class. He was featured in his college newspaper for his versatility
and industriousness and he presented his first scientific paper to the Southwestern
Psychological Association on interspecies intelligence, while still in his junior
year. He has since been honored as an  Alumnus of the Year, along with Robin Roberts
of ABC’s Good Morning America. Later Southeastern articles would refer to him as “a
Da Vinci in cowboy boots.” He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Biological Sciences
for many years at Southeastern. His Southeastern Louisiana University education opened
the doors of academia for him and he next matriculated to Tulane School of Medicine
in New Orleans, Louisiana.

While working on double doctorate degrees, Dr. Howes worked as a technician on the
isolation of thyrotropin releasing factor with Nobel Laureate, Dr. Andrew V. Schally,
studied under Dr. Richard Steele, whose mentor was Nobel Laureate, Dr. Albert Szent
Gyorgii, met Nobel Laureates, George Wald and Dr. Linus Pauling, who felt that Dr.
Howes could help bridge the gap between physicians and scientists, served as president
of the Biochemistry graduate students, graduated in the top 10, received the 1971
Pathology Association Award, was elected to Sigma Xi honor fraternity and was the
first in the history of Tulane School of Medicine to receive double doctorate degrees
in medicine and biochemistry simultaneously. He was the first to be designated by
the late Dr. Theodore Drapanas as a trained “surgical scientist” at Tulane Medical
School.

He matched with his first choice at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital for internship
and residency training. He chose it over other top notch programs because Dr. George
Zuidema, Chief and Blalock Professor of Surgery, gave him permission to conduct research
studies concurrent with his surgical training in the highly sought after William Stewart
Halstead program.
Even during his internship year, he was permitted lab space by Dr. John Cameron, past
president of the American Surgical Association, and he secured his own grants, trained
his own lab technicians and later wrote many papers on surgical and oxygen free radical
subjects during his residency training. He played music and sang for many of the surgery
resident’s functions and broke an ankle in a resident’s football game and sustained
significant trauma from a motorcycle accident.. He was the first to complete board
eligibility in both general and plastic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, while
doing basic research on oxygen metabolism, all in a six-year period. He had the opportunity
to work with the pioneer of mitochondrial biochemical function, Dr. Albert L. Lehninger,
and rubbed elbows with many of the greats of science, surgery and medicine. He trained
with Dr. Edward Luce and Dr. James Wells, both of whom have served as president of
the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. He trained under Dr.
John E. Hoopes, past president of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. He
received many grants, honors and awards from 1971-1977 during his years at Hopkins,
which are detailed in his full curriculum vitae.

His musical interests have carried him to perform at the New Orleans World’s Fair,
on many televised shows, appearing with numerous country superstars and ultimately
to center stage at the famed Grand Ole Opry Gospel Hour in Nashville, Tennessee. He
has composed over 500 songs and his original “Fantasies of You” recording went to
the # 1 chart spot on Nashville’s Panel Report for nationwide independent air play.
He was honored by the Country Music Associations of America with a Lifetime Achievement
Award, Inducted into the Tracker Hall of Fame, received the King Eagle Humanitarian
Award for “Your Devotion To the Betterment of Mankind”, received the 1999 Golden Music
Award, Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriter/Artist/Humanitarian and many other
such honors. In 1994, he received Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s America’s Awards honoring
Unsung Heroes, known as “The Nobel Prize for Goodness,” and in 1995, he was awarded
an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree by SLU. That same year he was sworn in
by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mayor of New York City, as the Community Mayor for the State
of Louisiana, International Council of Mayors and was an awardee, along with Dr. Stephen
Ambrose, for the George Washington Honor Medal.

Told that he could not go directly into solo practice, he boldly returned to New Orleans
in 1977 and opened his private practice at the Institute of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery,
which became a bona fide success story. He has served as president of the Metropolitan
Cosmetic Surgery Society and the Louisiana Cosmetic Surgery Society, and has served
the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons in numerous national offices and in many
capacities. He was awarded a patent certificate for inventing the triple lumen venous
catheter in 1977, licensed it to Arrow International, Inc. in 1981, successfully defended
it is a multimillion dollar six year patent infringement suit and watched it become
recognized as the number one venous catheter in the world. His multilumen catheter
has been credited with helping save the lives of over 20 million critically ill patients
worldwide and the name of Howes is well-known in over 100 countries.

He performed pro bono surgery, since 1982 throughout the Philippines, was honored
by the Philippine Ministry of Health in 1985 and since 2004, he holds the Espaldon
Professorial Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Santo
Tomas in Manila. He was the recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the
Community Mayors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in 1996. His philanthropic
and humanitarian efforts have been acknowledged by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George
H. Bush and he has received a letter of appreciation from the current USA President,
George W. Bush.

He retired from his private practice to pursue his dream of contributing to a better
understanding of oxygen biochemistry and of conducting an arduous in depth review
of the world’s scientific literature on oxygen metabolism. In 2004, he published his
first in a series of e-books on oxygen metabolism, which was a 767-page tome entitled,
“U.T.O.P.I.A.: Unified Theory of Oxygen Participation In Aerobiosis.” Also in 2004,
in an unprecedented move, The Johns Hopkins Hospital gave him an appointment as an
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery.

In 2005, he published his second e-book, a 931-page tome, entitled, “The Medical and
Scientific Significance of Oxygen Free Radical Metabolism.” In 2006, he has published
a third companion e-book, 274-pages, entitled, “Hydrogen Peroxide: Monograph 1: Scientific,
Medical and Biochemical Overview and Antioxidant Vitamins: A, C & E: Monograph 2:
Equivocal Scientific Studies.” These books contain thousands of references and represent
the most comprehensive overview of oxygen metabolism available today. His belief is
that the free radical theory is unfounded and that electronically modified oxygen
derivatives (EMODs) are of low toxicity and are essential for energy production, for
pathogen protection, as secondary cell messengers and as tumoricidal agents. His Unified
Theory states that EMOD deficiency levels “allow” for the manifestation of diseases,
including neoplasia and is a contributing factor in the aging phenomenon. Dr. Howes,
who is both an experimentalist and a theoretician, is an international lecturer on
plastic surgery and a world expert on the biochemistry of oxygen free radicals. His
passionate goal is to have cures at the bedside, based on his innovative theories
involving electronically modified oxygen derivatives, within his lifetime.