Blount Brothers

Benjamin, Robert and Roswell “R.D.” Blount share more in common than a last name and an alma mater. After graduating from Lyon College, then Arkansas College, the three brothers find themselves uniquely prepared to offer aid, expertise and support.

University of Iowa Health care

CenterS for Disease Control and Prevention and Kelly byrd blount, ‘89

Roswell “R.D.” Blount, ’86 , PH.D. Centerville Presbyterian Church

Dr. Robert Blount has been serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Iowa Health Care. As a pulmonary and critical care physician, Blount has been directly treating COVID-positive patients in the hospital’s intensive care units (ICUs).

The virus has drastically changed the protocols for medical staff and even shifted the organization of the hospital. One ICU is dedicated solely to COVID-positive patients. Anyone who is critically ill for any other reason is placed in a different unit to prevent exposure to the novel coronavirus.

The amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) medical staff must wear when entering ICUs has made connecting with patients and colleagues on a personal level more difficult. “You’re at a distance now and also have masks and face shields on,” he said. “As a physician, I really like to have that personal contact with my patients.”

Blount said the biggest challenge is watching critically ill patients in isolation struggle alone. One of the beautiful parts about working in ICUs typically, he said, is seeing the family and loved ones by the bedside, providing support to the patient. “If we have somebody dying of COVID, it’s particularly traumatic,” Blount said. “They’re dying by themselves. It’s heart-wrenching.” Fortunately, Blount said the hospital has had a lot of success helping COVID-positive patients recover. Blount said the community response reminds him of his time at Lyon College, which engendered a sense of camaraderie and “obligation to your fellow students and to your teachers.”

“Those were some of the most influential years of my life,” Blount said. “In a general sense, Lyon has given me the fortitude to tackle these crisis situations.”

He also encouraged people to remain patient and to not get “quarantine fatigue.”

“Because I work in the ICU, I see how sick people get with COVID. I see young people and old people dying from it.” Blount concluded. “This is not something to take lightly. That’s my advice.”

The technical knowledge Benjamin Blount gained in chemistry and biochemistry at Lyon College started him on the path to become Chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Tobacco and Volatiles Branch. Blount leads a staff of 90, with a mission to quantify harmful chemical exposures and advise policymakers to protect public health. His lab specializes in measurements of people’s exposure to harmful chemicals.

“Although it was 35 years ago, the chemistry and biochemistry I learned from Roberta Bustin, Bert Holmes and Scott Peterson have stuck with me and are still useful today,” Blount said of his time at Lyon College.

Blount and his staff haven’t been involved in the COVID-19 outbreak response. Instead, his department is finalizing an intense emergency response to a different crisis — an outbreak of vaping-induced lung injuries and death. Their research was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine under the title “Vitamin E Acetate in Bronchoalveolar-Lavage Fluid Associated with EVALI.” Blount said they worked round-the-clock for three months.

Blount worked as a research assistant with a Lyon biology professor for a year after graduation and in the summer of 1989, he and his wife relocated to Berkeley, California, to begin graduate school. University of California, Berkeley had one of the best programs in the country for training researchers in understanding health and disease.

Blount studied under the guidance of Dr. Bruce Ames, who developed the Ames Test for carcinogens. Blount’s research used an emerging technology called mass spectrometry to measure chemical markers in biological specimens to better understand harmful exposures and the resulting disease processes. Blount obtained his Ph.D. in 1994 and traveled to Sydney, Australia, to start his career and have “another travel adventure.”

Two years later, he started his work at the CDC. Blount said he is grateful that Lyon College prepared him for this path as a researcher and a “whole person.”

Dr. Roswell “R.D.” Blount, ’86, is a preacher at Centerville Presbyterian Church in Centerville, Iowa, and has been leading weekly online services to help the congregation through the pandemic.

“As we go through difficult times, what is the purpose God has for us in those times?” Blount asked in a recent message to youth. “He wants us to depend on Him now. That is the purpose for hard times.”

Blount encouraged adult congregants to use this period of social distancing to reflect on their study of Jesus’ beatitudes and to seek God’s guidance while working on forgiveness and mercy. When not in the pulpit, Blount has been transitioning leadership on the family’s fourgeneration farm and teaching sociology parttime at the local community college.

After graduating from Lyon, he worked as a social worker. He obtained his master’s degree in sociology at Iowa State University and his Ph.D. in religious and cross-cultural studies at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia.

Blount developed “The Strategic Collaboration Framework” in his dissertation, which offers 10 “tools” that apply directly to maximizing parishioner collaboration during the pandemic. The “Strengths Based Planning,” for example, helped him identify members of the congregation to feature in the online sermons. Blount hopes to continue being a source of hope.

“An idea I put forward in one of my initial emails to our church session was to reflect Christ’s light in the midst of this cultural pandemic darkness,” Blount said. “Especially for those who are involved in our weekly online services, it is a point of hope and church community. I believe that this is happening.”

From serving in the ICU to serving a church congregation, the Blount brothers have seen how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of life, and they will continue to support and meet the needs of their communities.