Dr. Olaf Thomas Mueller '68
Outstanding Achievement in a Chosen Profession
Olaf Thomas Mueller attended Mechanicsburg area schools since 3rd grade, and was active in the chorus, National Honor Society, science club, drama club and track team. Dr. Mueller has led an exceptional life as a scientist in the field of medical genetics. He has been a researcher, a professor, and clinical laboratory director. He cites his career beginnings in the biology course taught by Samual Heffner, particularly when the unit on Genetics was introduced. Years later he confessed to Mr. Heffner that he had opened the door to his future obsession.
After graduation Olaf attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Biology major. College accomplishments included Dean’s List and Sophomore Honors commendations, participation on the Lehigh Freshman Soccer team. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity and spent much of his senior year studying at Bonn University in Germany with Lehigh’s semester abroad program. He graduated with honors in Biology in 1972.
Following travels in Europe, Olaf was accepted to graduate school in the Genetics and Biochemistry departments of the Hershey campus of Penn State University in January 1973. He completed his PhD dissertation on Gaucher disease in 1978. His working career that followed saw many accomplishments. A few are highlighted below.
- 1978, NIH fellowship in biochemicalgenetics in the B.F. Stolinsky Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Denver. Research led to the first prenatal diagnosis of the inherited enzyme defect in sialidosis, a severe infantile storage disorder.
- 1980, joined the American Society of Human Genetics and began a postdoctoral research training position in a somatic cell genetics laboratory at the prestigious Roswell Park Laboratory in Buffalo, NY. Focused on dissecting the biochemical genetics of the mucolipidoses, a group of severe inherited disorders and mapping the responsible genes to their human chromosome position. This genome map would eventually contribute as a framework for the complete decoding of the human genome.
- 1985, awarded independent grant funding that allowed development of gene cloning techniques targeted at the isolation and study of the genes responsible for the mucolipidoses.
- 1987, accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Pediatrics Laboratory of the University of South Florida, Tampa. Taught medical genetics at the USF medical school and directed the Biochemical Genetics clinical laboratory diagnosing inherited metabolic disorders.
- 1990, passed the National Medical Genetics Board Certification examinations in Biochemical and Molecular Genetics as well as the Florida State Clinical Chemistry Director’s License.
- 1990, established one of the first molecular genetics clinical laboratories in the United States. This used newly published gene discoveries to develop DNA based testing for inherited disorders. A significant highlight was the development of one of the first national centers offering testing for Huntington Disease, a severe late onset movement and psychiatric disorder in conjunction with Genetic counselors and Neurologists.
- 1991, member of the Southeast Regional Genetics Group. Served as Chairman in 1998-99. Co-founded the first MolecularGenetics review course for the National Board examination in this specialty.
- 1994, Clinical laboratory section director of Biochemical and Molecular genetics at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. Continued to expand clinical genetics testing to 50 inherited childhood disorders.
- 2000, established large scale DNA sequence-based mutation screening for complex multigene disorders including cardiac, epilepsy, and connective tissue disorders.
- Published 33 peer-reviewed articles and 62 presentation abstracts for regional, national, and international genetics conferences. Was awarded oral platform presentation at the International Congress of Human Genetics in Jerusalem 1981, Berlin 1986, and Montreal 1994
Dr. Mueller retired in January of 2018. His avocations include sailing, traveling, and recreational athletics including triathlons, softball, and soccer leagues. He has been married to Mary Gail for 47 years. They have three children and three grandchildren aged 6, 3 and 1 year. He was nominated by Ann McNulty Hoffmen, Class of 1968.
back