Pioneer of Reproductive Medicine to be Discussed during Rutgers–Camden Cappuccino Academy

CAMDEN – Women today have more reproductive options, thanks to the life’s work of John Rock.

The contributions of the reproductive pioneer, which include co-founding the first oral contraceptive and fertilizing a human egg in vitro in the 1940s, will be discussed by the authors of the new book The Fertility Doctor: John Rock and the Reproductive Revolution during Rutgers–Camden’s Cappuccino Academy at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Authors, and sisters, Margaret Marsh, distinguished professor of history and interim chancellor at Rutgers–Camden, and Wanda Ronner, a clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will discuss their book, which was recently published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

The Fertility Doctor spans the 50-year career of Rock, who began working as a time-keeper on a banana plantation in Guatemala, and eventually became the nation’s leading figure in the treatment of infertility and global advocate for the birth control pill.

“He was the leading clinician in the field of reproductive medicine before the field even had a name,” Marsh explains of the Harvard-affiliated physician who had been known to perform experiments on himself to make sure they were safe for the patients he treated in his free Boston clinic.

Marsh and Ronner are also the authors of the book The Empty Cradle: Infertility in America from Colonial Times to the Present (Johns Hopkins, 1996). Both graduates of Rutgers–Camden, the publishing duo aims to release a third book, which will explore the ways in which reproductive medicine has emerged as a global business.

The free reading and book signing will be held at Barnes & Noble, located at 200 West Route 70 in Marlton.

This lecture is part of Cappuccino Academy, a monthly series of free public lectures delivered by members of the Rutgers—Camden community at Barnes & Noble.  For more information, call (856) 225-6627.

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