Howard Wilbur Jones, Jr. (December 30, 1910 – July 31, 2015) was an American gynecologist and surgeon. He performed sex reassignment surgeries at Johns Hopkins University.
Background
Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1931 and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1935, then completed his surgery residency there. He led a U.S. Army Auxiliary Surgical Group during World War II, after which he completed a gynecology residency. Jones was a colleague of surgeon Milton Edgerton.
Jones made many important innovations in cancer and fertility research, first at Johns Hopkins and later at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Genital surgeries
Jones performed “normalizing” surgeries on infants with differences of sex development on the recommendation of John Money, including vaginoplasty for David Reimer at age 22 months in 1967. Money fabricated the outcome of Reimer’s social adjustment, and Reimer eventually killed himself at age 38.
Jones also performed surgeries on adults. Confirmed patients include:
- Phyllis Avon Wilson (~1965)
- Dawn Langley Hall (1968)
Transgender hoaxer Kiira Triea/Denise Magner also claimed to have surgery from Jones at age 14, but there is no evidence that this is true.
Resources
Eastern Virginia Medical School (evms.edu)
- Jones Institute For Reproductive Medicine
- Historic URL: jonesinstitute.org
Johns Hopkins Medical Archives (medicalarchives.jhmi.edu)
- Historic URL: http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/sgml/joneshw.html