Frederick Charles Pybus

Frederick Charles Pybus (1883 to 1975) was an English surgeon from Newcastle-on-Tyne who contributed to early research on organ transplantation. In July 1916 he reported an attempt at allogenic transplantation of pancreatic tissue, in which fragments of human cadaveric pancreas were grafted into two diabetic patients; one showed a mild reduction in glucose excretion, but both patients later died. Pybus concluded that although transplants represented the most rational form of therapy, they would keep failing for as long as science did not understand the principles involved. He held the degrees DCL and FRCS, and he gave his collection of books on the history of medicine to the library of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where an archive and a collection bearing his name can be viewed in Special Collections.