1919-

American Surgeon

Joseph Murray began his career as a plastic surgeon, but soon became interested in transplantation—surgically moving tissue from one part of the body to another or from one person to another. Murray eventually performed the first successful transplant of an entire human organ.

Murray was born in 1919 in Milford, Massachusetts. He did not take premedical courses in college, but instead earned a liberal arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross. His studies focused on philosophy, English, Latin, and Greek. After graduating, however, he attended Harvard Medical School and completed a medical degree in 1943.

Soon afterward, Murray entered the army and was assigned to Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania. This hospital specialized in plastic surgery, and Murray worked there to treat burn victims. One treatment for burn victims is the use of skin grafts—the removal of healthy...