A Fertile Mind

Robert Edwards’ Nobel Prize speaks not only of his genius, but also of how well test tube babies have been received worldwide.

Dr Mike Macnamee is a busy man, juggling day-to-day affairs of the Bourn Hall Clinic even as he travels across the world, spreading the message of their pioneering work in In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). Last Sunday held personal significance for him. After a busy trip across India, he was back in England and enroute to a meeting with his mentor- turned-colleague-turned-friend, Professor Robert Edwards, the man often referred to as the ‘Father of IVF’.

While travelling to the care facility where Professor Edwards now spends his retired life, Dr Macnamee can foresee what will happen. First, he says, will be a warm congratulatory hug, followed by a recap of how the news of the professor’s Nobel Prize has been received across the world. Then, he’s sure, Bob will want to take some time recounting the early days of the Bourn Hill Clinic with Dr Patrick Steptoe, back when IVF techniques were hardly heard of.

For Dr Macnamee, Professor Edwards is ‘Bob’, the man who recruited him over 27 years ago. Meeting Professor Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe, the two responsible for the birth of the world’s first test-tube baby, proved to be the biggest turning point of his career. “It was a fantastic opportunity for me,” he says, “I was a young research scientist at that time, working in the theoretical fields of reproduction—it was a real opportunity to do the work first-hand with humans. After four years, I began to understand that the research I was doing in terms of clinical research was probably more important for the future of many families than my scientific research.”

Macnamee grows talkative as he recalls his initial years with his mentor: “Bob was truly inspirational for everybody who worked with him. He has a brilliant mind. It is very difficult to describe him. He was a man of extreme intellect, and yet had the ability to communicate with everybody in their own language. He does enjoy people hugely. Everybody admired and respected him, if not loved him. For a fundamental research scientist to go all the way to collaborate [with a doctor] for a clinical treatment that was robust and delivered good results—that was phenomenal.”

It was actually a chance meeting in 1968 between the gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, who was then a research fellow at the Department of Physiology at Cambridge, that led to the collaboration. One that has changed the lives of millions across the world. Professor Edwards had created the first blastocyst in 1968, and had succeeded in human test-tube fertilisation by 1970. However, it wasn’t until eight years later that their research and trials resulted in a healthy pregnancy leading to the birth of the world’s first ever ‘test-tube baby’, Louise Brown, in July 1978.

In his press statement after the announcement of the Nobel Prize, Professor Edwards describes one of his final meetings with his by-then-seriously-ill partner, Dr Steptoe. He distinctly recalls the thrill of relaying the news that 1,000 babies had been born at their clinic since their first successful ‘baby’. ‘I’ll never forget the look of joy in his eyes. Steptoe and I were deeply affected by the desperation felt by couples who so wanted to have children. The most important thing in life is having a child,’ he said, ‘Nothing is more special than a child.’

Charismatic and inspiring are words that most of his friends, colleagues and students commonly use while describing Professor Edwards. “He is charismatic, strong-willed and tenacious,” says Dr Al Yuzpe, a renowned Vancouver-based IVF specialist who has known him for over four decades, “He says what he thinks. For example, I heard him chastise the American IVF medical community for allowing the multiple pregnancy rate to soar to astronomical levels by replacing multiple embryos in order to achieve high pregnancy rates. He said, ‘You are behaving like cowboys.’ As a result, there is now a great move to replace fewer embryos in an attempt to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies.”

The reaction of his family to the news of his award has been rather muted, with their refusing to go public with their private celebration of a recognition that many feel has been ‘a long time coming’. His wife Ruth released a statement shortly after the announcement, expressing their delight in the prestigious award. Dr Macnamee fills me in on the little celebration that the family had when they visited Professor Edwards on the day of the citation. “I was told he was delighted,” he says, “After all, it is a singular honour which is received by very few people. However, Bob had received a slightly lesser honour two years ago when he had a UK postage stamp released of him—that is a very rare thing to have. This is the final recognition. It is long overdue.”

“As a person he always found time to talk to patients about what was happening in the laboratory, and rejoiced when each IVF baby was born. He took great personal pleasure in the news of each birth,” says Dr Thomas Mathews, Bourn Hall Clinic’s medical director. Perhaps that’s why his staff and colleagues fondly remember the special celebration they had organised two years ago, when Bourn Hall recorded the birth of the 10,000th baby at their clinic.

“We invited a baby from every year of Bourn Hall back to the clinic. So we had 30 different age children, starting with Louise Brown to the latest child. Bob was visibly overjoyed to plant a tree to commemorate the event, 30 years after setting up the IVF clinic,” adds Dr Macnamee. Trees hold a special place in Professor Edwards’ heart, and his green fingers are legendary too. “We had been working together for a very long time when he once took me to his house. He backed his car into his field and then revealed that he had planted some 5,000 trees, by himself, in the five acres of fields that he had. That was truly remarkable. He knew every single root and branch, every single part of that small forest he’d planted. He knew when he planted them, how big they would grow, and also how they will look in 20 years—-that, to me, summed up his vision.”

Professor Martin Johnson, who teaches at Cambridge and was one of Professor Edwards’ first research students, concurs with Dr Macnamee’s assessment. “He was a man much ahead of his time in IVF. His publications and lectures on ethics in science and the role of regulation also placed him way ahead of others. His achievements are not just over four million babies worldwide born through assisted reproductive technology, but also the way that he transformed the whole approach to research and care in reproductive medicine and gynaecology. It is very sad that his colleagues Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy aren’t alive to share this prize with him.”

For Professor Edwards, the Nobel recognition might be one that arrived a decade too late. But he remains popular among his friends for his humility, which they say comes from the confidence of great intellect. So, in any situation,  he could find something that made him smile. His rather sharp sense of humour won him many fans as well.

“I once asked him what he thought of human cloning. His reply was, ‘Al, I’ve never met anyone worth cloning,’” reminisces Dr Al Yuzpe. It was perhaps this trademark humour and the belief in his work that kept Professor Edwards going despite fierce criticism and opposition from many quarters, including the Vatican. Today, honoured so highly late in life, Professor Edwards must surely savour his vindication.

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