Joseph Edward Murray was an American plastic surgeon who performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins Richard and Ronald Herrick on December 23,1954.
22 Facts About Joseph Murray
2.
Joseph Murray studied philosophy and English, earning a degree in the humanities at Holy Cross.
3.
Joseph Murray subsequently attended Harvard Medical School; after graduating with his medical degree, Joseph Murray began his internship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.
4.
Joseph Murray served in the plastic surgery unit at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania.
5.
Joseph Murray's unit cared for thousands of soldiers wounded on the battlefields of World War II, working to reconstruct their disfigured hands and faces.
6.
Joseph Murray then went to New York to train in plastic surgery at New York and Memorial Hospitals, returning to the Brigham as a member of the surgical staff in 1951.
7.
In 2001, Joseph Murray published his autobiography, Surgery Of The Soul: Reflections on a Curious Career.
8.
On December 23,1954, Joseph Murray performed the world's first successful renal transplant between the identical Herrick twins at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, an operation that lasted five and a half hours.
9.
Joseph Murray was assisted by Dr J Hartwell Harrison and other noted physicians.
10.
In Operating Room 2 of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Joseph Murray transplanted a healthy kidney donated by Ronald Herrick into his twin brother Richard, who was dying of chronic nephritis.
11.
In 1959, Joseph Murray went on to perform the world's first successful allograft and, in 1962, the world's first cadaveric renal transplant.
12.
The discovery of Imuran and other anti-rejection drugs, such as prednisone, allowed Joseph Murray to carry out transplants from unrelated donors.
13.
Joseph Murray served as chief plastic surgeon at the Peter Bent Brigham until 1986.
14.
Joseph Murray served as chief plastic surgeon at Children's Hospital Boston from 1972 to 1985, retiring as professor of Surgery Emeritus in 1986 from Harvard Medical School.
15.
Joseph Murray was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and as a regent of the American College of Surgeons.
16.
Joseph Murray received the American Surgical Association's Medal for Distinguished Service to Surgery, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Francis Amory Prize, the American Association of Plastic Surgeons' Honorary Award and Clinician of the Year Award, and the National Kidney Foundation's Gift of Life Award.
17.
Joseph Murray was named one of the 350 most outstanding citizens representing the medical profession for the City of Boston's 350th anniversary.
18.
In 1991, Joseph Murray received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
19.
Joseph Murray was selected to receive the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society in March 2005.
20.
Joseph Murray's father was a noted lawyer and a district court judge.
21.
Joseph Murray married his college life sweetheart Bobby Link, a school teacher, in June 1945, with whom he would have 6 children: 3 boys and 3 girls.
22.
Joseph Murray suffered a stroke at his suburban Boston home on Thanksgiving and died at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the very hospital where he had performed the first organ transplant operation.