Joseph E. Murray Biography

Joseph E. Murray was an American plastic surgeon who won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990. He is credited to have performed the world’s first successful human kidney transplant in 1954 when he removed a healthy kidney from a young man and implanted it in the man’s ailing identical twin. The man who received the kidney successfully survived the surgery and lived for a few more years. Over the years, he developed pioneering techniques in organ transplantation which gave new hope to patients whose own kidneys, livers, heart, or other organs had failed. Becoming a medical doctor was a childhood dream for this great surgeon. He studied philosophy and English before joining the Harvard Medical School from which he graduated in 1943. He served for a while in the army where cadaver skin was used to treat burned soldiers. This technique led him to both transplantation and facial reconstruction. Following his return to civilian life he focused on investigating the possibilities of organ transplants. Along with his colleagues he began performing transplantation surgeries on dogs and proceeded to perform the world’s first successful human kidney transplant in 1954. Over the ensuing years he performed several other life saving surgeries and was honored with a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990 for his pioneering work in organ transplantation.