En estos momentos es posible que todo el mundo lo sepa: Robert Edwards ha sido el ganador del Premio Nobel de Medicina y Fisiología de este año.
R. Edwards y P. Steptoe fueron los pioneros de la medicina de la reproducción y más de 4 millones de niños en todo el mundo son el resultado de su visionario trabajo.
Desde la sociedad europea de reproducción humana y embriología (ESHRE) se emite el siguiente comunicado:
ESHRE warmly and proudly welcomes today’s announcement that the Cambridge reproductive biologist Robert Edwards has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Bob was a founder member of ESHRE and became the Society’s first chairman in 1985. The following year, under his drive and direction, ESHRE published the first issue of its journal, Human Reproduction, with Bob as editor, a role he was to continue for the next 15 years.
Working with the gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, Bob had pioneered the birth of the world’s first IVF baby, Louise Brown, who was born in Oldham, UK, on 25th July 1978. Her birth – as well as Bob’s own enthusiasm and personal guidance – proved an inspiration to many other groups around the world to establish their own IVF programmes.
Dr. Luca Gianaroli, ESHRE’s current chairman, says: «Without Bob there would be no ESHRE and no Human Reproduction, and all of us working in reproductive medicine would be the poorer for that. There can be few embryologists or IVF specialists today whose career and expertise have not been shaped in some way by ESHRE’s training and journals – and this is something we all owe ultimately to Bob.
«This is a proud day for ESHRE, and just reward for Bob whose pioneering work, often in the face of huge opposition, has brought fulfilment to so many families.»
Vaya desde aquí mi modesto homenaje al galardonado, y a Patrick Steptoe, ginecólogo que le ayudó a hacer realidad lo imposible y que falleció antes de ser fallado éste y otros premios.