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Michael Woodruff
Born	3 April 1911 London, England
Died	10 March 2001
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Scientific career
Fields	Organ transplantation
Institutions	Universities of Sheffield, Aberdeen, Otago, Edinburgh

Sir Michael Francis Addison Woodruff FRS (3 April 1911 – 10 March 2001) was a British-born surgeon and scientist principally remembered for his research into organ transplantation. Though born in London, Woodruff spent his youth in Australia, where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. Having completed his studies shortly after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, but was soon captured by Japanese forces and imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. While there, he devised an ingenious method of extracting nutrients from agricultural wastes to prevent malnutrition among his fellow POWs.

At the conclusion of the war, Woodruff returned to Britain and began a long career as an academic surgeon, mixing clinical work and research. By the end of the 1950s, his study of aspects of transplantation biology such as rejection and immunosuppression led to his making the first kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, on 30 October 1960. For this and his other scientific contributions, Woodruff was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1969. Although retiring from surgical work in 1976, he remained an active figure in the scientific community, researching cancer and serving on the boards of various medical and scientific organizations. He died on 10 March 2001 at the age of 89.

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, Woodruff joined the Australian Army Medical Corps. He stayed in Melbourne until he finished his Master of Surgery Degree in 1941. At that time, he was assigned to the Tenth Australian Army General Hospital in Malaya as a captain in the Medical Corps. However, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese offensive resulted in his capture.

After being captured, Woodruff was imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. In the camp, Woodruff realized that his fellow prisoners were at great risk from vitamin defiencies due to the poor quality of the rations they were issued by the Japanese. To help fight this threat, Woodruff devised a method for extracting important nutrients from grass, soya beans, rice polishings, and agricultural wastes using old machinery that he found at the camp. Woodruff later published an account of his methods through the Medical Research Council titled "Deficiency Diseases in Japanese Prison Camps".

At the conclusion of World War II, Woodruff returned to Melbourne to continue his surgical training. During his studies, he served as the surgical associate to Albert Coates, and met Hazel Ashby. Ashby, a science student, made a great impression on Woodruff, and he married her in 1946.

Early career

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Edinburgh

In 1957, Woodruff was appointed to the Chair of Surgical Science at the University of Edinburgh. At the university, he split his time equally between his clinical and teaching responsibilities and his research. As a major part of his research, Woodruff served as the honorary director of a Research Group on Transplantation established by the Medical Research Council.

The research group's principal investigations concerned immunological tolerance (the body's acceptance of tissues, as opposed to rejection), autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (especially in mice), and immune responses to cancer in various animals. In his clinical role, Woodruff started a vascular surgery program and worked with the use of immunotherapy as a cancer treatment. However, his most important clinical accomplishments were in kidney transplantation.

Most notably, he performed the first kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Woodruff had been waiting for the right patient for some time, hoping to find a patient with an identical twin to act as the donor, as this would significantly reduce the risk of rejection. The patient that Woodruff eventually found was a 49-year-old man suffering from severely impaired kidney function who received one of his identical twin brother's kidneys on 30 October 1960. That same year, Woodruff published The Transplantation of Tissues and Organs, a comprehensive survey of transplant biology and one of seven books he wrote.

Woodruff retired from the University of Edinburgh in 1976 and joined the MRC Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit. He spent the next ten years there, engaged in cancer research with an emphasis on tumor immunology. During that time, Woodruff also published 25 papers and two books. After retiring from his cancer research, Woodruff lived quietly with his wife in Edinburgh, traveling occasionally until his death on 10 March 2001 at the age of 89.

Importance

Woodruff's contributions to surgery were important and long-lasting. In addition to performing the first kidney transplant in the UK, he devised a method of implanting a transplanted ureter in the bladder during transplants that is still used today. Furthermore, he established a large, efficient transplant unit in Edinburgh that remains one of the world's best. Although best known for these clinical accomplishments, Woodruff's contributions to the study of rejection and tolerance induction were equally important. Among these contributions, Woodruff's work with anti-lymphocyte serum has led to its wide use to reduce rejection symptoms in organ transplant recipients up to the current day.

These important contributions to medicine and biology were first seriously honored in 1968 when Woodruff was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. The next year, 1969, Woodruff was knighted by the Queen, a rare accomplishment for a surgeon. Additionally, numerous medical organizations gave Woodruff honorary membership, including the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Woodruff also held office in several scientific organizations, serving as Vice-President of the Royal Society and President of The Transplantation Society. Finally, Woodruff served for many years as a WHO advisor and as a visiting professor at a number of universities.

Publications

Woodruff's impact is also apparent in his large volume of publications. In addition to authoring over 200 scholarly papers, Woodruff wrote seven books during his career, covering numerous aspects of medicine and surgery.

• Deficiency Diseases in Japanese Prison Camps. M.R.C Special Report No. 274. H.M. Stationary Office, London 1951.
• Surgery for Dental Students. Blackwell, Oxford. (Fourth Ed., 1984 with H.E. Berry) 1954.
• The Transplantation of Tissues and Organs. Charles C. Thomas. Springfield, Illinois 1960.
• The One and the Many: Edwin Stevens Lectures for the Laity. Royal Society of Medicine, London 1970.
• On Science and Surgery. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1976.
• The Interaction of Cancer and Host: Its Therapeutic Significance. Grune Stratton, New York 1980.
• Cellular Variation and Adaptation in Cancer: Biological Basis and Therapeutic Consequences. Oxford University Press 1990.

References

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4. "History of Transplants." BBC Health. Retrieved 4 May 2006.
5. "History of Kidney Transplantation in Edinburgh". Retrieved 5 May 2006.
6. "Michael Francis Addison Woodruff Bibliography" (PDF). The Royal Society. Retrieved May 6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

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• 1911 births
• 2001 deaths
• Australian surgeons
• English surgeons
• Fellows of the Royal Society
• World War II prisoners of war
• Australian Army officers
• People from London