Patrick Steptoe Explained

Birth Name:Patrick Christopher Steptoe
Honorific Suffix:CBE FRS
Birth Date:9 June 1913
Birth Place:Oxford, England
Death Place:Canterbury, England
Known For:In vitro fertilisation
Alma Mater:He also worked at Oldham General hospital
Spouse:[1]
Children:2, including Andrew Steptoe

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.[2] [3] Edwards was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the development of in vitro fertilisation; Steptoe and Purdy were not eligible for consideration because the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.[4]

Education

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.[5]

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.[6] [7]

Awards and honours

In 1979, Steptoe received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10] [11] Steptoe is also commemorated with a plaque at the Maternity Ward at the Royal Oldham Hospital,[12] and at 52 West End, Witney.[13]

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

In popular culture

Steptoe, Edwards, and Purdy's work was dramatised in Gareth Farr's 2024 play A Child of Science, which premiered at Bristol Old Vic; Steptoe was portrayed by Jamie Glover.[14]

Notes and References

  1. 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
  2. News: 1978: First 'test tube baby' born. BBC. 13 June 2009. The birth of the world's first "test tube baby" has been announced in Manchester (England). Louise Brown was born shortly before midnight in Oldham and District General Hospital. 25 July 1978.
  3. News: World's first test-tube baby Louise Brown has a child of her own. Independent. 21 May 2010. The 28-year-old, whose pioneering conception by in-vitro fertilisation made her famous around the world. The fertility specialists Patrick Steptoe and Bob Edwards became the first to successfully carry out IVF by extracting an egg, impregnating it with sperm and planting the resulting embryo back into the mother. London. Cole. Moreton. 14 January 2007.
  4. Web site: The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Press Release . Nobelprize.org . 4 October 2010 . 4 October 2010.
  5. Multiple sources:
    • 9876723. 3015256. 1998. Litynski. G. S.. Patrick C. Steptoe: Laparoscopy, sterilization, the test-tube baby, and mass media. Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons. 2. 1. 99–101.
    • 11645394. 1979. Dr. Steptoe's full report—at last. Medical World News. 20. 4. 10–11+.
    • News: 11648723. 1978. Weintraub. R. M.. First test-tube baby born in British hospital. The Washington Post. A1+.
    • 11662500. 1978. Gwynne. P. The test-tube baby. Newsweek. 92. 4. 76. Collings. A. Gastel. B.
    • News: 11648647. 1978. Nossiter. B. Test tube baby 'well': Doctors predict more successes. The Washington Post. A1+.
    • 11648651. 1978. By-passing a block to conception. Times. 15.
    • 11662645. 1978. Hathout. H. Test tube babies!. The Journal of the Kuwait Medical Association. 12. 3. 135–6.
    • 12088000. 1978. Shearer. L. Next: Twin tube babies?. Parade. 23.
    • News: 11648949. 1978. Cohn. V. Test-tube baby pioneer urges easing of curbs. The Washington Post. A26.
    • 11662640. 1978. Hand. G. O.. The manipulation of existence: Conceiving the inconceivable. Vital Speeches of the Day. 45. 4. 98–102.
    • 10315865. 1979. In vitro fertilization questions remain: No ethics problem, Dr. Steptoe says. American Medical News. 22. 8. 1, 15–6.
    • 11665072. 1979. That baby again. Time. 113. 8. 82.
    • 8817236. 1996. Edwards. R. G.. The history of assisted human conception with especial reference to endocrinology. Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes. 104. 3. 183–204. 10.1055/s-0029-1211443. free.
  6. 10.1093/humrep/deq155. 20657027. Why the Medical Research Council refused Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe support for research on human conception in 1971. Human Reproduction. 25. 9. 2157–74. 2010. Johnson . M. H.. Martin Hume Johnson. Franklin . S. B.. Sarah Franklin. Cottingham . M.. Hopwood . N. . 2922998.
  7. News: Weule . Genelle . The first IVF baby was born 40 years ago today . 25 July 2018 . ABC News . 25 July 2018 . en-AU.
  8. Web site: Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement . www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  9. Web site: 1988 New Year Honours . The London Gazette.
  10. News: World's first test-tube baby hails pioneers on 35th birthday . Ben . Kendall . 26 July 2013 . . 6 November 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161106185309/http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/81552/worlds-first-testtube-baby-hails-pioneers-on-35th-birthday . 6 November 2016 .
  11. Web site: 35 years of IVF celebrated by the first 'test-tube' baby at Bourn Hall Clinic . . 25 July 2013 . 6 November 2016.
  12. Web site: Blue Plaques . Oldham Council . 6 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161106185426/http://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200541/blue_plaques . 6 November 2016 . dead .
  13. Web site: Oxfordshire Blue Plaques . 4 May 2019.
  14. Web site: Llŷr Evans . Gareth . A Child of Science review – heartbreak and hard work behind birth of IVF . . 19 June 2024 . 12 June 2024.

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