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Patrick Steptoe

English gynaecologist (1913–1988)

Patrick Steptoe

English gynaecologist (1913–1988)

FieldValue
birth_namePatrick Christopher Steptoe
honorific_suffixCBE FRS
birth_date
birth_placeOxford, England
death_date
death_placeCanterbury, England
field{{Plainlist
known_forIn vitro fertilisation
alma_mater{{Plainlist
workplaces{{Plainlist
prizes{{Plainlist
* FRS<ref name"frs"}}
spouse
children2, including Andrew Steptoe

  • Obstetrics

  • Gynaecology

  • King's College London

  • St George's Hospital Medical School}}

  • Oldham General Hospital

  • Bourn Hall Clinic}}

  • CBE

  • FRS}}

Bourn Hall Clinic

Patrick Christopher Steptoe CBE FRS (9 June 1913 – 21 March 1988) was an English obstetrician and gynaecologist and a pioneer of fertility treatment. Steptoe was responsible with biologist and physiologist Robert Edwards and the nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy for developing in vitro fertilisation. Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born on 25 July 1978.{{cite news | access-date = 13 June 2009 | access-date = 21 May 2010

Education

Patrick Christopher Steptoe was born on 19 June 1913. Born in Oxford, Steptoe was educated at The Grammar School, Witney (since 1968 the comprehensive Henry Box School) in Oxfordshire. He went to King's College London and graduated from St George's Hospital Medical School, London in 1939. He served in the Royal Navy from 1939–1946 and attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

From 1947 to 1949 he was chief assistant in obstetrics and gynaecology at St. George's Hospital, then senior registrar at the Whittington Hospital (formerly known as Highgate Hospital) and obtained his FRCS(Ed) in 1950. His chief at Highgate, Kathleen Harding, was credited by Steptoe as teaching him a great deal about the management of infertility.

Laparoscopy pioneer

After the Second World War, he studied obstetrics and, in 1951 he started to work at the Oldham & District General Hospital. From Raoul Palmer he learned the technique of laparoscopy and promoted its usefulness. In 1967 he published Laparoscopy in Gynaecology. Subsequently, Robert Edwards, a physiologist from the University of Cambridge, contacted him and got him interested in collaborating in the development of in vitro fertilization.Multiple sources:

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Work with Edwards

Steptoe became the Director of the Centre for Human Reproduction, Oldham, in 1969. Using laparoscopy, he collected the ova from volunteering infertile women who saw his place as their last hope to achieve a pregnancy. Edwards and Jean Purdy provided the laboratory expertise. During this time they had to endure criticism and hostility to their work. Finally, in 1978, the birth of Louise Brown changed everything. Although he encountered further criticism, other clinics were able to follow the lead and patients responded. To accommodate the increased patient number and train specialists, he, Purdy, and Edwards founded the Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridgeshire in 1980 of which Steptoe was a Medical Director until his death.

Awards and honours

In 1979, Steptoe received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In the 1988 New Year Honours, he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), just a week after the 1,000th test-tube baby, conceived with his help, was born.

Steptoe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1987. His nomination reads:

A plaque was unveiled at the Bourn Hall Clinic in July 2013 by Louise Brown and Alastair MacDonald – the world's first IVF baby boy – commemorating Steptoe and Edwards. Steptoe is also commemorated with a plaque at the Maternity Ward at the Royal Oldham Hospital, and at 52 West End, Witney.

Steptoe is buried in Bourn, St Helena and St Mary Churchyard.

References

References

  1. (1996). "Patrick Christopher Steptoe, C. B. E. 9 June 1913 – 22 March 1988". [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]].
  2. 2007 "Steptoe, Patrick Christopher, (9 June 1913 – 21 March 1988), Director of Centre for Human Reproduction, Oldham, 1969–79; Medical Director, Bourn Hall Clinic, Bourn, Cambridgeshire, since 1980." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 27 January 2019
  3. (4 October 2010). "The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Press Release". Nobelprize.org.
  4. Brinsden, Peter R.. (2018). "The Story of Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, Jean Purdy, and Bourn Hall Clinic". Cambridge University Press.
  5. (2010). "Why the Medical Research Council refused Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe support for research on human conception in 1971". Human Reproduction.
  6. (25 July 2018). "The first IVF baby was born 40 years ago today". ABC News.
  7. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". [[American Academy of Achievement]].
  8. "1988 New Year Honours".
  9. "EC/1987/37: Steptoe, Patrick Christopher". The Royal Society.
  10. Kendall, Ben. (26 July 2013). "World's first test-tube baby hails pioneers on 35th birthday". [[Oldham Chronicle]].
  11. (25 July 2013). "35 years of IVF celebrated by the first 'test-tube' baby at Bourn Hall Clinic". [[Bourn Hall Clinic]].
  12. "Blue Plaques". Oldham Council.
  13. "Oxfordshire Blue Plaques".
  14. (12 June 2024). "A Child of Science review – heartbreak and hard work behind birth of IVF".
  15. Stedman, Emily. (2024-08-27). "James Norton's new movie confirms earlier UK screenings ahead of Netflix release".
Info: Wikipedia Source

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