Ken was a brilliant researcher who made a number of seminal contributions. He characterized the mechanisms of atrial natriuretic peptide and endothelial nitric oxide synthase function as well as the downstream mechanisms of nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling. More recently, Ken and colleagues in his laboratory discovered novel functions and mechanisms of action of the bone morphogenetic protein family in relation to cardiovascular disease and anemia of chronic inflammation, identifying this pathway as an important target in human disease.