LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Dr. Samuel Prien, a professor of reproductive physiology and obstetrics and gynecology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, is retiring at the end of the month after nearly 50 years.
Prien was involved with the first successful birth through assisted reproductive technology, or ART, at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. That baby was born in the late 1980s. For privacy reasons, her name was kept secret.
“I know we averaged for quite a while 100 babies a year,” Prien said.
Prien has impacted at least 10,000 students over the years.
“Outside of watching people take home a baby that is by far the most rewarding thing I do, because you get to see people finally get it… That’s the most exciting thing in the world,” Prien said.
“I feel like everyone that I have been taught by for reproductive physiology specifically has either been Doctor Prien or been taught by Doctor Prien,” said Sanjana Akula, a graduate student in the Texas Tech Department of Animal and Food Sciences.
Prien has been elected to the National Academy of Inventors. It is estimated that his innovations in fertility treatments have helped bring about 3,800 babies into the world.
Prien and graduate student Dustie Johnson worked to redesign a semen collection cup to allow men to provide a sample at home. The cup needed to preserve semen for men in rural areas who might need many hours to drive to the nearest fertility clinic.
“This right here was designed for urine. It was never designed to hold a semen sample,” Prien said in an earlier story. “And this one may be as much as 48 hours or more.”
The new collection cup was named Protex and is now widely available.
Prien currently holds four U.S. patents, 20 international patents and three copyrights, with others pending.
“We don’t look at things as limitations out here. You know, West Texans have to look at things as how do I get around the challenge,” Prien said.
Prien is retiring at the end of this month after nearly 50 years at Texas Tech.
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