Henry Harrower Biography

Henry Robert Harrower, MD (1883–1934) was a controversial early figure in endocrinology, and the author of several books and many papers on the subject. He was the impetus for the foundation of the Association for the Study of Internal Secretions, now called The Endocrine Society, and edited the first two editions of their journal Endocrinology. He was known for his advocacy of organotherapy, which involved consuming various glands and at times other parts of the body. He experienced financial success for this practice. Endocrinologists disdained these practices, believing that only the thyroid gland could have a meaningful effect when consumed orally. Harrower's organotherapy was the subject of repeated criticism. As he was the main proponent of the movement, it faded after his death.