Joseph E Murray (1919-2012) – Pioneer in human organ transplantation and Nobel Laureate
Joe Murray, who performed the first successful human organ transplant from a living donor in December 1954, has just died. He died at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he had spent most of his career. He became interested in transplantation because of his exposure to the management of burns with skin grafts at the Valley Forge Hospital during the war. After completing his plastic surgery residency at the Brigham he joined the staff as a general and plastic surgeon. The Brigham Hospital was a hive of activity in the field of transplantation, led by two young surgeons, David Hume and Charles Hufnagel. When David Hume was drafted into the Navy, Joe Murray took over the surgical laboratories. He was interested in immunosuppression and spent the early years working on variations in total body irradiation but later switched to studying immunosuppressive drugs, particularly 6-MP and azathioprine triggered by both Roy Calne’s and David Hume’s experimental work. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1990 for his pioneering work in transplantation. Joe Murray was a delightful person who had a very distinguished career, not only in transplantation but also in plastic surgery especially in reconstruction of congenital deformities in children.
I have written a full obituary for Nature which appeared on the 10th of January.
