Richard A. Ehrenkranz Memorial Fund

Click for more information about the Annual Richard A. Ehrenkranz Symposium at Yale School of Medicine.

This memorial fund has been established to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Ehrenkranz, a New Jersey native who built a 42-year academic and clinical career at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven as a neonatologist and an international leader in the field of infant nutrition and clinical research.

Dr. Ehrenkranz is remembered by his wife, family and friends for his gardening, travel, and dinner parties. He is remembered by colleagues as a generous man, who had a remarkable ability to present complex topics in a clear and memorable way, and as an inspirational leader who was always willing to share his time and knowledge.

When Dr. Ehrenkranz was diagnosed with metastatic rectal cancer in 2010, he continued to live his life fully inspiring others with his courage and dignity for another eight years until his death.

Just a week before his passing, Dr. Ehrenkranz received an email from a patient thanking him for saving his life in 1979. Despite having seen more than 20,000 patients over the course of his career, he remembered both the patient's name and diagnosis without hesitation. "My patients have given so much to me," he said.

Dr. Ehrenkranz, neonatologist and international leader in the field of infant nutrition and clinical research.

Dr. Ehrenkranz was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (1964-1968) and earned his MD from Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York (1968-1972). Following medical school, he trained in pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, New Haven, CT (1972-1974) and then spent 2 years at the Pregnancy Research Center, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD. He returned to New Haven, CT and performed a Neonatology Fellowship in the Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine. He joined the faculty of Yale Medical School in July 1978, was promoted to Professor of Pediatrics in 1988, and remained an active member of the Department until June 2018.

He directed Yale's School of Medicine Neonatal Intensive Care Unit's (NICU) Clinical Research Program and was the NICU's Clinical Director (1982-2004) and Medical Director (2004-2012). He was the Interim Director of the NICU, Yale-New Haven Hospital from 2012-2015.

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