SciTech Tuesday: Pioneering transplant doctor, Joseph Murray began career in Army Medical Corps
Dr. Joseph E. Murray, the first physician to perform a successful human organ transplant, died Monday at age 93. In 1954, he removed a healthy kidney from 23-year-old Ronald Herrick and implanted it into the donor’s identical twin Richard, who suffered from end-stage kidney failure. Dr. Murray’s pioneering work opened the door for the transplantation of other organs such as the liver, pancreas, and heart, touching the lives of tens of thousands of critically ill patients.
Serving as a First Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps beginning in 1944, Dr. Murray’s interest in organ transplantation arose from his experience at Valley Forge General Hospital treating returning soldiers with severe burns. He was fascinated with the slow rejection of donated skin grafts. Another doctor at the hospital had observed a successful skin graft between twins and noted that patients that were more closely related to their donors, rejected tissue more slowly. Murray called his experience as an Army physician during WWII “the impetus” for his study of organ transplantation. In 1990, Dr. Murray was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering efforts.
Post by Annie Tête, STEM Education Coordinator
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