The surgery went on to make national news headlines as the first successful human-to-human kidney transplant, enabling Richard Herrick to enjoy another eight years of life and making Murray a pioneer in medical history.

Five years following the 1954 kidney transplant between the Herrick twins, Murray went on to perform the first successful kidney transplant between two people who were not genetically related. A few years later, he successfully transplanted a kidney from a dead body into a living human. Throughout the remainder of his career he continued to study organ transplants and the use of immunosuppressive agents to reduce the risk of rejection.


In 1990 Dr. Murray was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with E. Donnall Thomas “for their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease,” as mentioned on the organization’s website.

Since 1945, the now-retired Murray has been married to Bobby Link, a musician with whom he has six children. In 2001 he authored an autobiography titled, Surgery of the Soul: Reflections on a Curious Career.

Thanks to Murray’s medical work, the kidney has become the most commonly transplanted organ in the United States and continues to give renal-failure patients a second chance at life.

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