LSU Health Mourns Loss of Dr. Joseph Moerschbaecher
The campus is enduring a deep and tremendous loss with the death of Dr. Joseph “Joe” Moerschbaecher, III, the recently retired Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Dr. Moerschbaecher passed away on July 1, 2021 from complications of esophageal cancer. Many people have taken the time to share what Dr. Moerchbaecher meant to them:
“Dr. Moerschbaecher was the most supportive person I've ever met. Like all of us, he had good days and bad days, but every day was a day that he had your back. His absence will leave a void as big as this institution that will take years to fill. Looking forward, I hope that he would be proud of the work we do to elevate the LSU Health community through excellence in academics and research.” - Patrick E. Reed, RTTP, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Innovation & Partnerships
"Dr. Moerschbacher was a huge ally with getting the student garden up and running. Several other students and I had made the existence of a garden on campus our personal mission for quite some time, and many staff and faculty wished us well, but Dr. Moerschbaecher gave us the attention we needed to make sure it happened. He approved plant sales, use of campus property, helped us get professional signage and even put a fence around the garden. It definitely seemed like he had a special interest in gardening, and we appreciated him so much for helping to make our dream a reality! He will be missed, as a campus will always benefit from a leader who listens." - Jenna Moore (Richlie), MPH Founder of the Raised Root Student Garden and Students for Sustainability
“You're never too old to have a mentor. As a junior faculty member, Dr. Moerschbaecher
was one of my most influential mentors. He supported my interest in community service
and always encouraged me, advised me, and gave me opportunities to succeed. In 2009,
I felt honored when he trusted me to dir
ect his “baby,” the Science Partnership Program (renamed the Science Youth Initiative,
SYI), an educational pipeline program for elementary, middle, and high school students.
Thanks to Dr. Moerschbaecher's vision, this program has created a substantial impact
on Louisiana schoolchildren, making science easier to understand through hands-on
activities, improving classroom and standardized test scores, and introducing youth
to our diverse LSUHSC science professionals and trainees as positive role models.
Dr. Moerschbaecher's legacy for serving the Louisiana community will continue with
the SYI Program for many years to come.” - Fern Tsien, PhD, Assistant Dean of Medical Student Research; Associate Professor,
Department of Genetics; Director, Science Youth Initiative (SYI), Summer Research
Program, and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU); Co-Director, Enhancing
Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education (ENDURE)
"As I reflect over the last 20 years of my tenure on the LSUHSC-NO campus, there are numerous moments of his mentorship and professional support that I will cherish regarding Dr. Moerschbaecher.
Moments of a timeline that began during the year of 2000 when I, at the time, was simultaneously a member of Dillard University's faculty and a cross-enrolled MS in Healthcare Management graduate student from the University of New Orleans; and later, as one of the August 2005 graduate students in our School of Graduate Studies, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, whose studies were affected by Hurricane Katrina; in 2008, as a University of Nevada, Las Vegas graduate student following the death of my dissertation professor; and in 2010, when I returned to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS). In 2014, as he ensured that my aging parents were able to comfortably access and enjoy my doctoral-PhD graduation, and then, as a newly hired Assistant Professor-Research in our School of Medicine, Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, when he appointed me, simultaneously to the VCAA-Graduate Advisory Committee; and in 2019, as I was promoted from Assistant Professor-Research to Associate Professor-Research. His valued mentorship was ongoing and continued into June of this year, 2021, when he signed the necessary paperwork for consideration that has led to my induction as SGS Graduate Faculty. Throughout my academic and professional careers, he shared his wisdom and support.
To some people, he may have seemed unapproachable, or even grumpy at times. But to me, he was welcoming, respectful, kind, and supportive, and for these qualities, I will always appreciate him, and he will be missed.” - Allison C. Augustus-Wallace, PhD, MS, MNS, DEIC; Associate Professor-Research, Dept. of Medicine & SOM-Office of Diversity and Community Engagement; Director, Undergraduate Academic Pipeline Programs for Diversity LSUHSC-New Orleans, School of Medicine; GAC- Recruitment and Alumni Affairs LSUHSC- New Orleans, School of Graduate Studies
Leslie Capo, Director of Information Services, issued the following press release:
Joseph M. Moerschbaecher, III, PhD, who recently retired as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, passed away July 1, 2021, from complications of esophageal cancer.
The son of the late Geraldine (Stack) Moerschbaecher and Joseph M. Moerschbaecher Jr., Joe was born February 12, 1949, in South Bend, Indiana.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Loyola University, Chicago. While still in school, Joe was a research associate in behavioral pharmacology at Abbott Laboratories. He received a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the American University in Washington, DC, and then worked as a research associate in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. After Joe completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Pharmacology at Georgetown University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, he joined the faculty as a research assistant professor. LSU Health Sciences Center recruited him, and he joined its faculty as an assistant professor of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics in 1983.
His remarkable nearly four-decade career at LSU Health Sciences Center was filled
with visionary leadership and accomplishment. He rose through the ranks as an associate
and full professor to lead the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics,
and in 1991, he was also appointed Co-Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center
of Excellence, which he helped found. In 1998, Chancellor Merv Trail, MD, appointed
Joe as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
He led Academic Affairs and the graduate school on both the New Orleans and Shreveport
campuses as Shreveport was under LSU Health New Orleans' administration at that time.
Recalled Wayne Backes, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health New Orleans, “When
he first became department head, he told us that ‘All ships rise with a rising tide.'
It was the first time that I heard this, and this is how he built his department.”
Joe was extensively published in peer-reviewed journals. He also wrote numerous chapters in textbooks. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded him millions of dollars in research grant funding throughout his career. He was an award-winning teacher, continuous NIH study section participant, and a member of almost 40 different LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans committees. Joe also played a key role in founding the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health.
Peter Winsauer, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health New Orleans, singled out one of Joe's best talents. "He had an incredible knack for identifying people with promise and then mentoring them to reach that promise.”
He served on the boards of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center and the Louisiana Cancer Research Center, as well as the Chair of the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund Planning Committee. Joe served in multiple capacities for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and from 2010-2012, was the President of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society. This society is one of his scientific discipline's oldest professional societies and one that was essentially launched by B. F. Skinner.
“Dr. Joe Moerschbaecher's dedication to the mission of the LSU Health Sciences Center was unwavering,” said close friend and colleague Jimmy Cairo, PhD, Dean of LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions. “His abilities to attentively listen to others' opinions and analyze challenging situations were comforting to everyone who worked on projects with him.”
Joe Moerschbaecher was instrumental in LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans' response to and recovery from the devastating flooding after Hurricane Katrina. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of those students who were unable to flee as the floodwaters inundated LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Joe remained on campus with several other staff members until the water receded and they could be transported out of our badly damaged and incapacitated city. He played a major role in relocating the main and dental campuses to Baton Rouge and successfully returning to New Orleans to rebuild both the academic and research enterprises.
“Shortly after Katrina, everything was chaotic, and I asked him what we should do first to help,” Dr. Backes remembered. “He said, ‘You will see problems. Just work on that - everything will help.”
In all of his roles, Dr. M, as he was affectionately known, was fully engaged in support of students; the expansion of the research enterprise, including multiple centers of excellence; the support of innovation; and the nurturing of relationships with governing bodies and other institutions in the LSU System, as well as across the state, nation, and globe.
“We owe Joe Moerschbaecher a tremendous debt of gratitude,” said Larry Hollier, MD, Chancellor of LSU Health New Orleans. “He left an indelible mark on our university, and his contributions to science and health were enormous. His legacy will live on through the more than 20,000 graduates whose careers he helped shape. The goal for most of us is to make a difference. Joe Moerschbaecher more than achieved that goal. Integrity, commitment, excellence, and service defined his life.”
As distinguished but self-effacing leader as he was, the adopted New Orleanian also knew how to kick back and enjoy life. He dove headlong into New Orleans' culture. As a member of Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club, Joe looked forward to donning each year's colorful suit and taking to the streets on Mardi Gras morning, of course, stopping at watering holes along the way. He often delighted his staff with annual Pete Fountain bobblehead figures for their desks. He was also known to bring donuts and king cakes in as special little treats. And everyone knew if you wanted a cookie with your coffee at a staff meeting, you had to beat him to the tray. He was so fond of them that those who had to meet with Joe about difficult topics were encouraged to bring cookies.
There was nothing Joe loved more than dancing with his beloved Bern. They would be the first on and last off the dancefloor at the annual LSU School of Medicine Gala. He relished his fishing trips with his brother and relaxing and reading for fun on his Florida beach.
Joe loved sailing so much that whenever they could, he and a few of his colleagues from around the country would stay on sailboats rather than in hotels when they attended professional society meetings.
Joe is survived by his wife of 48 years, Bernadette Moerschbaecher of Metairie, Louisiana, sons Joseph Moerschbaecher, IV, of Brevard, North Carolina, and Matthew Moerschbaecher, PhD, of Metairie, Louisiana, as well as sisters Mary McDonald (Patrick) of Long Beach, Indiana, and Patricia Frett (Robert) of McHenry, Illinois, a brother, William Moerschbaecher (Amy) of Presque Isle, Wisconsin, and numerous nieces and nephews.
“Joe was the bedrock of LSU Health Sciences Center,” said Kurt Varner, PhD, Professor and Head of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics at LSU Health New Orleans. “His steadfast and compassionate leadership over the last 40 years has helped to guide the institution through good times and bad. He was a teacher, mentor and trusted friend to students, faculty and staff alike. He will be dearly missed.”
A celebration of his life and contributions to LSU Health Sciences Center is on display in the Ische Library on campus.
Visitation was held Friday, July 9, 2021 at St. Ann Church and Shrine in Metairie, LA. A funeral mass celebrating his life followed. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the LSU Health New Orleans School of Graduate Studies account at the LSU Health Foundation New Orleans, 2000 Tulane Avenue, 4th Floor, New Orleans, LA 70112.