Henry Robert Harrower, MD (1883-1953) was a pioneer in the study of endocrinology, the glands that produce and secrete hormones that regulate body processes such as growth and reproduction. He publ...ver maisHenry Robert Harrower, MD (1883-1953) was a pioneer in the study of endocrinology, the glands that produce and secrete hormones that regulate body processes such as growth and reproduction. He published 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.
Harrower was born on April 30, 1883 in Islington, London, England. His father, Robert Percy Harrower, was from Scotland, and his mother, Johanna Susan Flynn, was the daughter of an Irish army officer. Young Henry was orphaned at a young age and raised by his grandmother, Jemima Margaret (Wright) Harrower.
Harrower studied for three years in Scandinavia to become a masseuse, and at age 20 travelled to Battle Creek, Michigan to enrol in the American Medical Missionary College. At the Seventh-day Adventist college he learned, and was receptive to, the alternative therapy teachings of John Harvey Kellogg, the famous American medical doctor, nutritionist, inventor, health activist, and businessman. He graduated with his medical degree and spent several years in France and Italy, traveling back and forth between Europe and the United States. It was during this time that Dr. Harrower became interested in advocating organotherapy.
He published his book, Practical Hormone Therapy, which dealt with organotherapeutic practices, in 1912. He established the first Harrower Laboratory in 1918 on the second floor of the Bank of Glendale building at 704 E. Broadway, in Glendale, Los Angeles, California, and the first endocrine clinic in the United States in May 1924 on South Belmont Street, also in Glendale.
He passed away in Glendale, Los Angeles, on January 2, 1953, aged 69.ver menos