--- title: The First Successful Kidney Transplant description: Tuesday marks 60 years since the first successful kidney transplant canonical: https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-23T12:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:04:33.427Z article:section: History og:title: The First Successful Kidney Transplant og:description: Tuesday marks 60 years since the first successful kidney transplant og:url: https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16a4a9aa5740db16/69877078cd1bba3c5d6f4577/kidney.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dr. Niraj Desai (L) places a kidney into og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The First Successful Kidney Transplant twitter:description: Tuesday marks 60 years since the first successful kidney transplant twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16a4a9aa5740db16/69877078cd1bba3c5d6f4577/kidney.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the First Successful Kidney Transplant Happened by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 23, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  Dr. Niraj Desai (L) places a kidney into a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital June 26, 2012 in Baltimore Dr. Niraj Desai (L) places a kidney into a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital June 26, 2012 in BaltimoreBrendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 23, 2014 12:00 PM UTC When Richard Herrick was only 23, he had diagnosed kidney disease and a bleak prognosis for the rest of his life. As TIME [summed it up](http://time.com/vault/issue/1955-01-03/page/40/), “Only a surgical miracle could give him hope of lasting relief and near-normal life.” At the time, organ transplants were rare and temporary. They were meant to help the individual until their own kidney could recover, and the body typically rejected them. But Herrick had an identical twin brother, Ronald, and a courageous medical team at what is now Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who decided to take the risk and transplant Richard with one of Ronald’s kidneys. The surgery took about 5 hours, on Dec. 23, 1954 — exactly 60 years ago. It worked, and Richard lived for eight more years. One of the lead surgeons, Dr. John Murray, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in organ transplantation. Today, kidney donors don’t have to be related to the patient, they don’t even have to be alive. [According to](https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/Organ-Donation-and-Transplantation-Stats) the National Kidney Foundation, in 2013, 16,896 kidney transplants took place in the U.S., and 11,163 were from deceased donors and 5,733 from living donors. **_Read how TIME covered Richard Herrick’s kidney transplant in Jan. 1955:_** [Twin Transplant](http://time.com/vault/issue/1955-01-03/page/40/) The First Successful Kidney Transplant ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/"},"headline":"How the First Successful Kidney Transplant Happened","datePublished":"2014-12-23T12:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:04:33.427Z","description":"Tuesday marks 60 years since the first successful kidney transplant","url":"https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/","keywords":["health","medicine","Surgery","transplant"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16a4a9aa5740db16/69877078cd1bba3c5d6f4577/kidney.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16a4a9aa5740db16/69877078cd1bba3c5d6f4577/kidney.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dr. Niraj Desai (L) places a kidney into","caption":"Dr. Niraj Desai (L) places a kidney into","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health/","name":"health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3644215/history-kidney-transplant/","name":"How the First Successful Kidney Transplant Happened"}}]}] ```