John Putnam Merrill (March 10, 1917 – April 14, 1984) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and medical researcher. He led the team which performed the world's first successful kidney transplant.Altman, Lawrence K
"Dr. John Merrill, Transplant Pioneer, Dies in Boating Mishap,"
''New York Times.'' April 10, 1984. He generally credited as the "father of nephrology"Epstein, Murray
"John P. Merrill: The Father of Nephrology as a Specialty,"
''Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology,'' Vol. 4, pp. 2-8. January 7, 2009. or "the founder of nephrology," which is the scientific study of the kidney and its diseases.

Early life

Merrill was born in 1917 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. After graduating from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1938, he attended the

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 ...

. He graduated in 1942; and he was an intern at the

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two f ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served for four years in the Army. Two years were spent on

Kwajalein Island Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

in the Pacific with "

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

Career

Merrill's entire career was spent in Boston at

, now known as

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts Gener ...

. His work as a medical researcher began in 1947. As a resident in medicine, he was assigned to head the team which developed an artificial kidney (the Brigham-Kolff dialyzers) for use in the treatment of acute and chronic

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

. In 1950, Merrill began teaching at

. In 1954, Merrill headed the multidisciplinary team that performed the first successful transplant of a kidney between identical twin brothers. Merrill was made a full professor at Harvard Medical School in 1970. His legacy is found in his students and in those doctors he mentored.

Chronology

Merrill's career was cut short when he died on April 14, 1984, in a boating accident while vacationing in the Bahamas.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about John Merrill,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 20+ works in 30+ publications in 3 languages and 400+ library holdings . * 1980 – ''The role of the kidney in human hypertension.'' * 1980 – ''Factors Influencing Renal Vasculature During Anesthesia, Trauma, and Oliguric Renal Failure States in Man'' * 1977 – ''Electrolyte Imbalance'' * 1974 – ''Present Status of Kidney Transplantation'' * 1973 – ''Topics in Nephrology'' * 1973 – ''Squirrel Island, Maine: the First Hundred Years'' * 1971 – ''Uremia; Progress in Pathophysiology and Treatment'' * 1971 – ''Artificial Organs and Cardiopulmonary Support Systems'' * 1969 – ''Treatment of acute renal failure'' * 1967 – ''Il trattamento dell'insufficienza renale'' * 1963 – ''Reversible Renal Failure'' * 1959 – ''Die Behandlung der Niereninsuffizienz therapeutische Grundlagen der Behandlung akuter und chronischer Urämie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Elektrolythaushaltes'' * 1959 – ''Die Behandlung der Niereninsuffienz'' (The Treatment of Renal Failure) * 1955 – ''The Treatment of Renal Failure; Therapeutic Principles in the Management of Acute and Chronic Uremia''

Honors

Gairdner Foundation International Award The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a p ...

, 1969 *

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

, president, 1963Merrill, J.P. "Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Investigation,
Presidential address,"
''Journal of Clinical Investigation.'' Vol. 42, pp. 906–911. April 1963.

Notes

8. Dept of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File

References

* Fenster, Julie M. (2003)
''Mavericks, Miracles, and Medicine: The Pioneers Who Risked Their Lives to Bring Medicine Into the Modern Age.''
New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ;
OCLC 52825127
* Friedman, Eli A. (1978). ''The John P. Merrill Festschrift: nephrological research papers by past and present members of the Merrill School of Nephrology.'' New York: Karger
OCLC 10230217
* Thorn, George W. (1973). ''Essays in Medicine: Topics in Nephrology.'' New York: Medcom Communications Group. {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, John P. Dartmouth College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni American medical researchers Harvard Medical School faculty American nephrologists 1917 births 1984 deaths Howard Hughes Medical Investigators 20th-century American physicians