Howard & Georgeanna: Sixty Years of Marriage & Medicine - Tapa blanda

HOWARD W. JONES, JR. (1910-2015) was one of the most charismatic and ingenious figures of his generation in American medicine. From before his World War II service as a battlefield surgeon, he was pioneering advances in surgery and gynecological oncology and endocrinology at Johns Hopkins University Medical School alongside his distinguished wife and collaborator, GEORGEANNA SEEGAR JONES, M.D. (1912-2005). After reaching the mandatory age for retirement, they moved from Baltimore to Norfolk, Virginia, where they launched the nation’s first in vitro fertilization (IVF) program for patients with infertility. Dr. Jones’ humanity, longevity, and industriousness were legendary; he published three books after becoming a centenarian. This last book includes a chapter from his late wife’s unpublished lectures, another chapter by his longtime assistant Nancy Garcia, and a prologue by the editors, Drs. Lucinda Veeck Gosden and Roger G. Gosden, who were his former colleagues. Includes illustrations, family memories, and short tributes to the Joneses from over a hundred friends, colleagues, and patients around the world.

Howard W. Jones, Jr., was born December 30, 1910 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) in 1931 from Amherst College and his M.D. in 1935 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was a surgeon and a member of staff in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins until mandatory retirement at age 65. He held key positions in the development of ethical standards for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and is a past chairman of the American Fertility Society (now A.S.R.M.) Ethics Committee on Reproductive Technology. He and his late wife, Dr. Georgeanna Jones, were the only American gynecologists invited by the Vatican to participate on a panel to advise Pope John Paul II concerning ARTs. A role early in his career in treating gynecological cancer was important in the development of the Pap smear and other technologies that have reduced the death rate from cervical cancer. One of his patients was Henrietta Lacks whose cancer cells proved to be immortal and are known as HeLa cells. While at Johns Hopkins he became involved in reconstructive surgery of the internal and external genitalia of individuals affected by disorders of sexual development. He was also involved with sex reassignment surgery in individuals suffering from transsexualism. Following retirement from Johns Hopkins in 1978, the Drs. Joneses moved to the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, where they established the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) program in the United States. This challenge resulted in the birth of Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first IVF baby in the Americas. Dr. Jones published three books after becoming a centenarian, and died aged 104 on July 31, 2015.