John Hartwell Harrison (February 16, 1909January 20, 1984) was an American
urologic surgeon, professor, and author. He performed the first human organ removal for
transplant to another. This was a pivotal undertaking as a member of the medical team that accomplished the world’s first successful
kidney transplant
Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...
. The team conducted its landmark transplant between identical twins in 1954.
Harrison was a descendant of the
Harrison family of Virginia
The Harrison family of Virginia is an American family with a history in politics, public service, and religious ministry, beginning in the Colony of Virginia during the 1600’s. Their descendants include a Founding Father of the United States, ...
. He was educated there and in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
prior to completing his medical training and taking up practice in
Boston, Massachusetts; he specialized in urology at the
Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Harrison taught surgery at nearby
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, where he also contributed as a textbook editor and produced urological monologues. He died at age 74 of
bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...
.
Family, education, and practice
Harrison was born in
Clarksville, Virginia
Clarksville is a town in Mecklenburg county in the U.S. state of Virginia, near the southern border of the commonwealth. The population was 1,139 at the 2010 census. Since the town has numerous buildings of the 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-cent ...
, the son of I. Carrington Harrison, MD and Rosalie Smith. He grew up in
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
, and graduated from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree in 1929, and an
MD in 1932. After an internship in
internal medicine at Lakeside Hospital in
Cleveland, Ohio, he pursued postgraduate training in surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham (now
Brigham and Women's) Hospital in
Boston, Massachusetts. He joined the Brigham staff in 1939, was made head of its Division of Urology in 1941, and made
Brookline, MA his home with his wife Gertrude (née Chisholm) and four children. During World War II, he served in the
United States Army Medical Corps
The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps (non-combat specialty branch) of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least one ...
in the
Pacific Theater of Operations.
After the war, Harrison also served at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
as
Elliott Carr Cutler Professor of Surgery. This position was established in 1965 by the school in memory of a former professor. During his tenure, he authored over 140 articles and monographs, primarily on urologic and general surgery, and was editor of the three-volume reference text, ''Campbell's Urology''.
Harrison served as a trustee of the American Board of Urology from 1965–1974. He was President of the Boston Surgical Society, Vice President of the American Surgical Association, and was a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia from 1966–1974. He was also a urologic consultant to the Air Force and the Veterans Administration.
First kidney transplant
Harrison,
Joseph E. Murray, John P. Merrill, and others achieved the first successful
kidney transplant
Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...
, between identical twins Ronald and Richard Herrick, on December 23, 1954, at Brigham Hospital. Harrison's primary role was to remove the kidney of the donor, Ronald. Murray received a
1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this and later work.
According to Murray's Nobel lecture, the operation that Harrison performed on the donor represented the first time a patient was subjected to major surgery that was not for his own benefit. The decision to proceed was made after consultation with clergy and others who carefully scrutinized the ethical aspects. Murray indicated that an extraordinary burden was inherently imposed upon Harrison in the care of his otherwise healthy patient, whereas Murray, the surgeon for the transplant recipient, was operating on a critically ill patient, and neither he nor the nephrologist had the ability to cure the recipient.
Murray in his lecture also related a decisive exchange between Harrison and the donor: "At the conclusion of our last pre-operative discussion, the donor asked whether the hospital would be willing to assume responsibility for his health care for the rest of his life if he agreed to donate his kidney. Dr. Harrison said, 'Of course not.' But he immediately, and sympathetically, followed with the question, 'Ronald, do you think anyone in this room would ever refuse to take care of you if you needed any medical help?' Ronald paused, and then understood that his future depended upon our sense of professional responsibility rather than on legal assurances. He consented on this basis and the transplant proceeded.”
After the donor's surgery, Harrison assisted with the recipient's operation. Upon completion of the surgical procedures, the transplanted kidney immediately assumed normal function in the recipient; he survived for eight years and died in 1962, of complications from his original chronic
nephritis. The donor died in December 2010 of unrelated causes.
Awards and associations
The transplant team received the 1961 Amory Prize of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
for their accomplishment. Harrison had been elected in 1954 as a Fellow of the Academy.
Harrison's other awards were as follows:
* He was in 1970 given the Ferdinand C. Valentine Award from the
New York Academy of Medicine
The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...
.
* In 1971, he received the
Purkinje Medal from
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
* He was named in 1976 an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
* In 1983, he was awarded the Keyes Medal from the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons.
* He held honorary degrees from
Harvard and from
Roger Williams College.
* He was made a member of the Irish Urological Society and the
British Association of Urological Surgeons
The British Association of Urological Surgeons is a professional association in the United Kingdom for urology professionals.
Its official journal is the BJU International
''BJU International'' (or ''BJUI'', formerly known as the ''British Jou ...
.
Works
*
References
Works cited
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, J. Hartwell
American urologists
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
American transplant surgeons
1984 deaths
1909 births
United States Army Medical Corps officers
United States Army personnel of World War II
Harrison family of Virginia
People from Clarksville, Virginia
Physicians from Virginia
Military personnel from Virginia
20th-century American physicians
20th-century surgeons