Researchers and clinicians in the UK have announced the birth of a baby following a womb transplant from a deceased donor, a major advance in reproductive medicine built on decades of prior animal research. 

The baby’s mother, Grace Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare condition in which women are born without a functional womb/uterus.  

The uterus transplant took place in 2024, after which the recipient underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The treatment was part of a UK research programme led by Richard Smith from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, who told BBC News the birth was, “a huge breakthrough (and) an incredible achievement after years of research”. 

The pregnancy was closely monitored, and the baby, named Hugo, was delivered at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London in December 2025.  

This type of transplantation was established through extensive animal research from the University of Gothenburg, before any human trials began and was first successful in Sweden in 2013.  

In 2008, the Swedish team started developing techniques for uterus transplantation in rodents and studied tissue survival and rejection under a suppressed immune system. They then refined surgical methods in sheep to optimise bloodconnections and transplant timing. Finally, collaborative studies in non-human primates – baboons – demonstrated the clinical viability of the transplantation. 

This research progression across species provided the safety and feasibility data required before initiating the 2012 human clinical trial in Sweden, which laid the foundations for this UK milestone.