Remembering Dr. A Linn Murphree

With heavy hearts, we share the news that Dr. A Linn Murphree, Professor of Ophthalmology, first Division Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology, and Director of the Retinoblastoma Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and University of Southern California, passed peacefully on March 9th, 2022.

Linn, as he was known, was a tremendous force in ocular oncology, known for his role in cloning of the RB1 gene, and his passion and purpose for treating children with retinoblastoma.

Following his training as a Fulbright Fellow in Human Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, Dr. Murphree began his medical training at Baylor College of Medicine with an established interest in human genetics. He discovered ophthalmology in medical school, and an abiding interest in pediatrics. He combined those three interests by focusing on ophthalmic genetic diseases, including retinoblastoma, during his ophthalmology residency.

At the end of his fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he found his first and only professional post. He assumed the Division Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology position at CHLA, USC.

With his first NIH grant, he demonstrated by deletion mapping that the RB1 gene was located in chromosome 13q14. Subsequently, he developed a clinical referral practice focused on ocular oncology, and created the largest retinoblastoma referral center west of the Mississippi at CHLA – a center that is still thriving.

During his retinoblastoma clinical practice, Dr. Murphree recognized an unmet clinical need for a wide-field retinal camera to document the intraocular findings associated with retinoblastoma. He recruited a team of optical engineers. The result was the invention of the RetCam®, a commercially available pediatric retinal camera used worldwide to document retinoblastoma and many other retinal abnormalities, including retinopathy of prematurity.

Dr. Murphree’s work on chemo-thermotherapy, published in 1983, was a model for retinoblastoma treatments using intravenous chemotherapy combined with local therapies. He is the author or co-author of more than 70 essential papers on retinoblastoma genetics and retinoblastoma care. He received many accolades during his career, including the prestigious Stallard Award from the International Society of Ocular Oncology in Paris in 2015, and the Helen Keller award for the impact of RB1 gene cloning in 2018.

Dr. Murphree enthusiastically participated in the first One Retinoblastoma World meeting hosted by WE C Hope, held in London, England, in 2012.  He led the session “Psychosocial Care: Healing the Whole Child”, and presented research on Post Traumatic Stress in children treated for retinoblastoma.  This work was completed by his long-time colleague, Nancy Mansfield, founding Executive Director of the Institute for Families at CHLA, who died in 2010.

He will be remembered with great affection and gratitude by our WE C Hope team, by hundreds of children, survivors, and their families for whom he cared deeply, and by the many doctors he trained to do the same, who now practice around the world.