Historical Tidbit: Robert T. Morris (1857-1945) and Human Ovarian Transplantation
Submitted by Alan D. Rogol, M.D., Ph.D.
Robert Morris was an exceptional surgeon in New York City. He was among the first to successfully transplant ovarian tissue into the ovarian fundus of two young women in 1895 (NY Med J 1895; 62:436). One had spontaneous menses at 2 months and the second conceived a pregnancy, but not a live birth. He performed a number of others, some of which transiently restored ovarian function. In 1906, he noted that a recipient 5 years earlier delivered a female child and then two more children (Med Rec 1906; 69:697–8). This caused an uproar concerning ethical issues of a “three parent” child. All occurred before the word hormone was coined and without knowledge of transplant immunology.