Joseph murray
A late photo of Joseph Murray.
Dr. Joseph E. Murray, born on April 1, 1919, was the first person to ever successfully perform a human organ transplant. Performed in 1954, patients often died from transplant attempts because their body would reject the new organ, but Dr. Murray performed the surgery between two identical twins, one of which would have died without the kidney transplant.
Originally a plastic surgeon that worked on soldiers from World War 2, he knew that the body could always reject alien tissue, which is a natural immune response. He compared this to organs, and concluded that if the new organ were of the exact same composition as the original - as in this case of identical twins - there is a chance it might work. The operation succeeded and changed the medical procedure forever. The procedure was no longer a guessing game. He later performed a successful transplant on two unrelated people in 1959 with immunosuppressant drugs. "We were criticized for playing God," he said in a 2001 interview, but he firmly believed that one must "Keep your eye on helping the patient."
After his discovery, more than 600,000 lives have been saved from donated organs. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. He transformed the way failing organs are treated by his groundbreaking discovery. While his breakthrough occurred between the two centuries, It transformed the turn of the 21st century. At that time, the procedure was widespread and advanced in technology. And by that time it had saved numerous lives and inspired other organ transplants. He was the pioneer of organ transplantation and his procedure is now performed daily.
Dr. Murray died on November 26, 2012 at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the same hospital in which he performed the surgery in, at the age of 93. "The world is a better place because of all Dr. Murray has given. His legacy will forever endure in our hearts and in every patient who has received the gift of life through transplantation," said the president of the hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel.
Originally a plastic surgeon that worked on soldiers from World War 2, he knew that the body could always reject alien tissue, which is a natural immune response. He compared this to organs, and concluded that if the new organ were of the exact same composition as the original - as in this case of identical twins - there is a chance it might work. The operation succeeded and changed the medical procedure forever. The procedure was no longer a guessing game. He later performed a successful transplant on two unrelated people in 1959 with immunosuppressant drugs. "We were criticized for playing God," he said in a 2001 interview, but he firmly believed that one must "Keep your eye on helping the patient."
After his discovery, more than 600,000 lives have been saved from donated organs. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. He transformed the way failing organs are treated by his groundbreaking discovery. While his breakthrough occurred between the two centuries, It transformed the turn of the 21st century. At that time, the procedure was widespread and advanced in technology. And by that time it had saved numerous lives and inspired other organ transplants. He was the pioneer of organ transplantation and his procedure is now performed daily.
Dr. Murray died on November 26, 2012 at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the same hospital in which he performed the surgery in, at the age of 93. "The world is a better place because of all Dr. Murray has given. His legacy will forever endure in our hearts and in every patient who has received the gift of life through transplantation," said the president of the hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel.