By on May 10, 2019 - 3:13pm
Scottish scientist John MacLeod was a leading expert in male infertility and the behavior of the human spermatozoa. In 1938 he received an offer to head the male infertility clinic at Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine), and later became a professor of cell biology and anatomy.
In addition to his work on humans, businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney consulted Dr. MacLeod about the infertility of his racehorse, Boojum, in 1942. Dr. MacLeod recommended adding vitamin B to his food and the horse sired four offspring the following season. As a result, Mr. Whitney became a major sponsor for Dr. MacLeod’s landmark research on the relationship between human semen quality and male infertility.
Dr. MacLeod became the first person to receive the prestigious Lasker Award for his research in the physiology of human fertility in 1945. In 1977, the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center established the MacLeod Institute for Human Reproduction in his honor.
Visit our new lobby exhibit at 1300 York Avenue for more information on Dr. MacLeod and four other pioneers in reproductive medicine!
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