SIMON FLEXNER
He had just published a paper for the American Association for the Advancement of Science reporting on his development of techniques to transplant arteries from one animal to another. This was the beginning of transplantation. However, immediately he envisioned the possibility of transplanting all organs in humans including the heart. It would take half a century for Dr. Christian Barnard to actually transplant a heart, but the idea was not novel. It had been a goal since Flexner made this quotation.
Simon Flexner, M.D. ForMemRS was a physician, scientist, administrator, and professor of experimental pathology at the University of Pennsylvania (1899–1903). He served as the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1901–1935) (later developed as Rockefeller University) and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also a friend and adviser to John D. Rockefeller Jr..
