The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine is one of the great success stories in the history of scientific research in the United States.  It traces its roots to the visionary decision by Dr. Mason C. Andrews, Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Eastern Virginia Medical School, to recruit Drs. Howard and Georgeanna Jones to the Norfolk, Virginia institution.
 

Georgeanna, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 92, was one of the nation’s first reproductive endocrinologists. Her husband’s reputation was as a famed surgeon and medical ethicist.  Married for 64 years, the couple retired from Johns Hopkins University in 1978.  Ignoring their children’s wishes to slow down, they came to EVMS, bringing with them a vast amount of knowledge, particularly in the area of hormonal influences in pregnancy.

Dr. Georgeanna demonstrated that the “pregnancy hormone”, known then as prolan, was produced in the placenta, not the pituitary gland as previously believed.  That discovery would lead to the development of home pregnancy tests that are now used around the world.

It was a relationship the Joneses had with a pair of British researchers, however, that led to their most noteworthy accomplishment.  Drs. Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, with Dr. Georgeanna’s active participation, were studying the potential for extracting human eggs from a woman’s ovary, fertilizing them in a glass dish, then replacing them in the mother’s uterus.

In 1978, they would succeed in conceiving the world’s first in vitro baby, prompting a reporters’ question to the Jones’ as to whether the same feat could be accomplished in Norfolk.  They said it could.  With funds donated by former patients, they assembled a team of young scientists and utilizing the advances in hormonal stimulation pioneered by Dr. Georgeanna, they replicated the British team’s success.  In December 1981, Judy Carr gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, America’s first so-called “test tube” baby.


Today the in vitro techniques developed by the Jones’ team are offered at clinics around the world. Although in vitro may be the most dramatic of many solutions to infertility, the science in this field is constantly evolving, and the physicians and researchers at the Jones Institute are continually searching for solutions to make assisted reproduction more successful for a wider range of couples.

The Jones Foundation, established in 1985, works to ensure that groundbreaking research in the field of reproductive medicine will continue for years to come.