Dr. Ruth Christine Steinkamp was a well regarded authority in the role of nutrition in health, serving on the subcommittee of the National Research Council responsible for the preparation of the recommended dietary allowances guidelines. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she received both her bachelors and masters degrees in home economics from the University of Texas, Austin. Completing her work there in 1940, she went to Johns Hopkins University Hospital where she completed a dietetic internship. In 1941, she came to Vanderbilt, where she was a Research Associate in Nutrition. She worked with Dr. John B. Youmans and Dr. William J.Darby with nutrition surveys and studies. She left Vanderbilt in 1945 for a similar position at the University of Arkansas School of medicine, while at the same time working to earn a M.D. degree in 1950. She received her internship, residency and fellowship training in hematology and internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. Her career included a number of academic appointments, private practice in hematology, and governmental service with public health agencies in California and Arkansas. Cited as author on over 40 schoarly publications, she served on numerous national and international committees and organizations pertaining to nutrition, public health and hematology. She died in Little Rock at the age of 63 March 22, 1982.