Jonathan Muraskas

Class of 1978: Nurturing extremely premature babies

Over a four-decade career at Layola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, Jonathan K. Muraskas has built a position as a world-renowned expert in the care of extremely premature babies and children with other critical medical needs.

He was born in February 1956 on the south side of Chicago. At Ripon, he majored in chemistry, was a member of Delta Upsilon, and was active in the Big Brothers organization

Ripon holds a special place in his heart, he said. During his sophomore year, his mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and during his senior year father died of colon cancer. “It is hard being a science major and dealing with two losses in the family, but when I look back that is what made Ripon,” he said.

“People like Professors Jim Beatty, Rich Scamehorn, Earle Scott, David Carley, Dave Brittain, they were like family to me and a huge pillar of support. I could go to their houses at night and talk about anything. That is what made Ripon so unique. You can get lost in a big university. The key thing for me was (at Ripon) you are not a number. The classes are small; they take a real interest in you.”

He received his medical degree from Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine in 1982, and he has remained with Loyola throughout his career. With dual board certifications in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine, his positions have included co-medical director of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and director of Neonatal-Perinatal Research.

Since 2001, he also has served as a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology, Divisions of Neonatology and Maternal/Fetal Medicine, at Loyola University Chicago School of Medicine.

As a recognized world expert on extremely low birth weight newborns and conjoined twins, he has cared for more than 25,000 sick newborns. These include hundreds of babies born weighing two pounds or fewer, 400 sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets.

He has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records three times for caring for two newborns, who, at the time of their respective births, were the world’s smallest babies to survive (8.5 and 9.5 ounces); and the smallest twins in the world with a combined weight of 1 pound 13 ounces. He also has saved a baby gorilla and polar bear at the local zoo.

Muraskas has been featured in People Magazine and Time Magazine; appeared on “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “Leeza Gibbons” and “Oprah,” and has been interviewed by Larry King, Tom Brokow, Dan Rather and Katie Couric.

He has been named among the top 1 percent of neonatologists in the nation in neonatal perinatal medicine by U.S. News & World Report.

Ripon College presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Citation in 1998 and an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 2007.

His work has been widely shared in more than 350 publications in peer review journals, books and abstracts. He has given more than 250 outside presentations, both nationally and internationally; serves as a reviewer for 15 peer review journals; and belongs to 15 medical societies.

“I love pediatrics, I love medicine, I love kids,” he said. “I was attracted to neonatology because no day is routine. I am blessed to care for not only the infants but their families. Not only did a liberal arts education prepare me for life outside of Ripon but instilled the importance of being a compassionate, caring human being.”