The first human womb transplant - with Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga

Unfold the extraordinary tale of the first UK human womb transplant, with the two surgeons behind it.
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This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 14 June 2024.
Following two decades of steadfast research, the first-ever UK human womb transplant took place between two sisters in early 2023.
Join surgeons and co-leaders of the effort Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga as they share the remarkable 25-year journey of research and collaboration, and the hope to extend this life-changing opportunity to more people in the future, marking a significant milestone in medical history.
The transplant, co-led by teams from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, took nearly 18 hours and paved the way for potential motherhood. The successful procedure highlights the plight of one in five thousand UK women without a viable womb, offering hope to those who have undergone a hysterectomy. While the UK celebrates its inaugural transplant, the global count is around 100, with 50 babies born from such procedures since 2013.
Join two leaders in the field as they explore the future of womb transplants in the UK and beyond.
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Isabel Quiroga was born in Spain and obtained her medical degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. After graduating she moved to the UK and completed her surgical training in the North Midlands, Cardiff and Oxford. She has a D.Phil. in Transplant Immunology from the University of Oxford and Master in Humanitarian Medicine from The University Miguel Hernandez in Alicante, Spain. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
She worked as a Consultant Transplant Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London and then was appointed as a Consultant Surgeon in Oxford in 2010. Isabel Quiroga specialises in renal and pancreas transplantation, vascular access surgery and endocrine surgery. She is the Clinical Lead for Organ Retrieval in Oxford and has been the course director of the National Organ Retrieval Masterclass in the UK for 9 years. She has collaborated with colleagues in India China and Turkey to develop training courses and webinars in organ donation and retrieval in those countries.
In collaboration with Professor Richard Smith and his gynaecology colleagues at Imperial College, London, she has established the first uterus transplant programme in the UK.
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Professor J. Richard Smith MD, FRCOG is a consultant gynaecological surgeon at the West London Gynaecological Cancer Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College NHS Trust. He was Adjunct Associate Professor at the New York University School of Medicine from 2001 to 2021 and is currently Professor of Practice at Imperial College. He moved to Hammersmith/Queen Charlotte’s Hospital almost 20 years ago where his sub-specialisation of gynaecology is oncology. Within this he specialises in gestational trophoblastic disease, ovarian germ cell tumours, cervical cancer and vulval disease.
He co invented the procedure of radical abdominal trachelectomy to remove cervical cancers while allowing future pregnancies and also the modified Strassman procedure, fertility sparing surgery for woman with rare uterine tumours. In addition, he invented the Smith’s safety needle holder. He is a registered colposcopist and has a long-running interest in the management of pelvic pain and the psychology both of his patients and of the operating theatre.
Professor Smith began his research into the potential of Uterine Transplantation to help those woman of child bearing age who do not have a viable womb, in the late 1990s. Some years later he founded the charity Womb Transplant UK which helps to fund research including two programmes of transplant operations. He is the Chairman of the charity and leader if the Charity’s research team. He is an Honorary Consultant in Transplantation Surgery at the University of Oxford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
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