Robert Joseph White

Robert Joseph White (January 21, 1926 – September 16, 2010) was an American neurosurgeon, vivisectionist, and bioethicist best known for his work on hypothermia and his experiments with head transplants on mammals, including living monkeys.

Early life White was born January 21, 1926, raised in Duluth, Minnesota, by his mother and an aunt. His father was killed in combat while serving in the Pacific theater during World War II. White stated in a 2009 Motherboard interview that his interest in the human brain started in high school when his biology teacher admired his dissection of a frog cranium and told White that he should become a brain surgeon.

Education and career White began his undergraduate studies at the University of St. Thomas before entering the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1949; he later transferred to Harvard Medical School in 1951, where he earned his medical degree cum laude in 1953. White had ten children with his wife, Patricia Murray, a nurse he met at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital while completing his surgical internship and residency. A devout Roman Catholic, Dr. White was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He attended mass regularly and prayed before performing surgeries. White received invitations worldwide to speak, lecture and share his medical expertise. He was a consultant to the in Moscow and was the only foreign member of both Russian and Ukrainian Academies of Medical Science. He lectured extensively in the U.S., Russia, China and Europe. White founded Cleveland General Metropolitan Hospital's (now MetroHealth) neurosurgery department. Many people know him for being a leading target for protesters. A PETA activist went as far as to call him "Dr. Butcher" and described his experiments as "epitomizing the crude, cruel vivisection industry." For 40 years, White was a neurological surgery professor at Case Western Reserve University medical school, a well-liked teacher and an acclaimed surgeon.

Ultimately, immune rejection caused the monkey to die after nine days. Jerry Silver, an expert in regrowing severed nerves, called White's experiments on monkeys, "fairly barbaric." the feasibility of spinal cord reconstruction and cephalo-spinal linkage in humans received support in 2014 from a German study (which does not address directly the actual topic of head transplantation.)

Death White died at his home in Geneva, Ohio, on September 16, 2010, at age 84 after suffering from diabetes and prostate cancer.