John MacLeod, PhD Papers

Collection

Identifier: US-NNCORMA-RGPPM-046

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Scope and Contents

The bulk of these papers cover the years 1961-1972, the end of Dr. MacLeod's career when his best-known work was done. As an expert in his field, his correspondence includes inquiries from physicians and scientists from around the world, usually asking his advice on particularly difficult research or clinical problems in male infertility.

There is also considerable material relating to Dr. MacLeod's research activity including correspondence with pharmaceutical companies, foundations and the National Institutes of Health. His ties with such public health groups as the Health Research Council and Planned Parenthood can also be investigated in this collection.

The rest of the collection consists of notebooks from the 1930s-1940s (3v), reprints and sixty-five inches of "Infertile Marriage Histories." These seem to be records created as part of Dr. MacLeod's consultation work at the Medical Center. They date from c. 1959 to c. 1964 and contain the husband's vital statistics and medical history, marital information and detailed information regarding the husband's spermatozoa.

Dates

1937 - 1977

Conditions Governing Access

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), internal policies requiring protection and confidential handling of PHI (protected health information), FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), or other institutional polices regarding internal or confidential records, and may require additional permissions prior to access. Some records in this collection are restricted and require additional permissions prior to access. View the container inventory for more information and visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding access to historical materials containing restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials from this collection cannot be reproduced outside the guidelines of United States Fair Use (17 U.S.C., Section 107) without the advance permission of the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine or the copyright holder. In the event that anything from the collection become a source for publication, a credit line indicating the Medical Center Archives of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine is required.

Historical records in the Medical Center Archives are protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) and internal policies which require protection and confidential handling of all protected health information (PHI). Materials containing PHI, personally identifiable information (PII), and/or student information (protected under FERPA) have been restricted and require additional permissions prior to reproduction and use.

Please visit the Medical Center Archives website for the most updated policies and procedures regarding reproduction and use.

Biographical / Historical

John MacLeod was born on November 29, 1905 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the eldest of four children of a printer. Although the family was not poor, Dr. MacLeod left school at 14 to get a job and bring money into the household. After a short time as a messenger, he became a lab boy in the Department of Physiology at the University of Edinburgh. In three years, he was promoted to chief assistant to the Department's chairman, the renowned Sir Edward Sharpey-Schafer, with responsibility for preparing and participating in all of Sir Edward's research experiments.

Dr. MacLeod quickly realized "what a wonderful thing this science was" and began sitting in on all the lectures given by the Department. His eagerness to learn caught the attention of another faculty member, Eric Ponder, and when in 1927 Dr. Ponder left to become professor of biology at New York University he asked Dr. MacLeod to come along as his lab assistant with a scholarship from N.Y.U. for undergraduate study.

Dr. MacLeod received his B.A. in English from N.Y.U. in 1934 and immediately accepted a research fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory, where Dr. Ponder had recently been made director. He remained at Cold Spring Harbor until 1938 in the meantime acquiring his M.S. from N.Y.U.

In 1938-1939, Dr. MacLeod did work at Rockefeller Institute before being lured by Dean Joseph Hinsey to the Cornell University Medical College's male infertility clinic. Although his previous work had been with white blood cells, Dr. MacLeod quickly became an expert in the field of human male infertility and the behavior of the human spermatozoa.

In 1945, only four years after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell, Dr. MacLeod won the prestigious Lasker Award for his research in the metabolism of human spermatozoa. In the 1940s and 1950s, with the financial backing of the horse breeder, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Dr. MacLeod established various aspects of semen quality in relation to male fertility that remain international standards to this day.

After retiring from the CUMC Department of Anatomy in 1972, Dr. MacLeod re-mained at the Medical Center, setting up a consultation laboratory for male infertility in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He retired again in 1977 at which time the Medical Center established the MacLeod Institute for Human Reproduction.

Dr. MacLeod married Catherine Brown, a secretary at Cold Spring Harbor in 1934 and was the father of two children. He died at New York Hospital on January 24, 1984.

Sources: "Dr. John MacLeod: A Profile," CUMC Alumni Quarterly v. 44, #1 (April, 1981)

Extent

8.33 Linear Feet (12 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These papers were discovered by the Medical Archivist in the sub-subbasement of the Lying-In Hospital, Room M-00028. They were transferred to the Archives, August 8, 1984.

Processing Information

This collection was processed and finding aid was written by Stephen Novak in the late 1980s. Finding Aid published online by the Medical Center Archives staff in 2008. Restrictions were updated by Elizabeth Shepard in 2019. Minor modifications to the finding aid were made during migration to ArchivesSpace in 2024.