United States
•
8 views
Joseph Murray
Milford, United States
Archival Overview
Pioneering American surgeon who performed the world's first successful human organ transplant (a kidney between identical twins in 1954), winning the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Biographical Record
Joseph Edward Murray graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1943. While treating severely burned soldiers at Valley Forge General Hospital during World War II, he became fascinated by skin graft rejection.
On December 23, 1954, at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Murray performed medical history's first successful organ transplantation, transplanting a healthy kidney from Ronald Herrick to his identical twin brother Richard, who lived for eight more years. Murray later performed the first successful transplant from an unrelated deceased donor using azathioprine immunosuppression.
Key Life Milestones
First Successful Human Kidney Transplant
Successfully transplanted a kidney between identical twins in Boston, inaugurating the modern era of organ transplantation.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Awarded the Nobel Prize alongside E. Donnall Thomas for discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
0 messages recordedLeave a Respectful Tribute
Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialBoston, United States