Mary Denise

Mary Denise Ruppe, M.D. died at age 48 on March 14, 2018 at the Houston Methodist Hospital from complications of metastatic colorectal cancer. She is survived by her sons Rhys and Drew Beauchamp, her husband Michael Beauchamp, her parents, Clarice and Joseph Ruppe, and her siblings Katherine Ruppe, Anne Shields and Joseph Ruppe III. Mary was born in Mishawaka, Indiana on June 25, 1969. She was the valedictorian of the Mishawaka High School class of 1987 and received an A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1991. Mary graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, NY in 1998, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC followed by a fellowship in endocrinology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. After taking her first faculty position at the University of Texas Houston Medical School in 2005, Mary moved to Houston Methodist Hospital in 2012, becoming the endocrinology fellowship program director and director of the bone disease clinic. As a specialist in treating children and adults with genetic bone diseases, she authored dozens of articles and chapters. Mary led the clinical trial that developed the first treatment for X-Linked Hypophosphatemia, an FGF-23 inhibitor known as Burosumab that received FDA approval in 2016. She treated underserved patients in her pediatric rickets clinic at the Houston Shriners Hospital and the adult endocrine clinic at Legacy Community Health. As a member of the Endocrine Society and the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, Mary was a passionate advocate for female trainees, serving as secretary-treasurer of Women in Endocrinology from 2010 to 2013. Mary was an exceptional competitive swimmer. She was the top-ranked high-school swimmer in Indiana and was a four-year swimmer for the Harvard University swim team, winning two Ivy League and three Eastern Championships. After graduation, she began to compete in long-distance open-water swimming, qualifying for the US Olympic Committee National Open Water team in 1994 and placing second in a 10K race from Switzerland to France across Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). Following her cancer diagnosis in 2013, she continued to compete for the Rice University Aquatics Masters Team, winning an individual National Championship in 2014 and earning All-American status in 2015. She passed on her love of swimming to her two sons and spent her weekends cheering them on at swim meets and volunteering for the Rice Aquatics age group team. A memorial service will be held in Houston in the Rice Chapel located in the Rice University Student Center on Wednesday, March 21st from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Service Information

March 21, 2018 5:00pm, Rice Chapel (Rice University Student Center)

Details:

Service Extra Info The Service will be from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. followed by a reception from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Guests are welcome to bring a photo, story or memory to share in the guest book or during the service.