Kirk M. Maxey, MD (born 1955)
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Kirk M. Maxey was born in Kanab, Utah.[1] One of five children born to parents who were both employed by the National Park Service, he spent his childhood in a number of different parks including Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks.
After receiving his degree in organic chemistry from Colorado State University in 1977,[2] Dr. Maxey worked as a medicinal chemist at the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He entered medical school at the University of Michigan in 1980 and, in that same year, founded the biomedical research company Cayman Chemical.[3] While still a student, Maxey pioneered the use of natural prostaglandins from the soft coral P. Homomalla[4] as medicinal chemicals.
In 2007 he founded Maxey Cosmetics and introduced the first cosmetic eyelash conditioner using the extracts of P. Homomalla to promote healthier, more youthful lashes.
Dr. Maxey has also been a consultant and expert witness for Alcon and Pfizer as well as a member of the Lipid Maps Consortium.[5][6]
Dr. Maxey served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Donor Sibling Registry from 2006 through 2009. He is currently President and CEO of Cayman Chemical, and a member of the Board of Directors of Lasya, Inc.
Maxey was an active sperm donor for the University of Michigan and Michigan IVF, and during that time, he provided more than 1000 semen samples under the pretext that they were being used for basic IVF research.
In May 2006, Maxey was contacted by two of his biological children from these donations, through their joint registry on the Donor Sibling Registry. Together, they determined that it was mathematically possible that 400 offspring could have been conceived via these donations.[7]
In 2005, Dr. Maxey established the Cayman Biomedical Research Institute (CaBRI) in in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a 501(c)(3) non-profit institute that works in collaboration with the Donor Sibling Registry to help donor conceived children learn their ancestry. He has been a vocal advocate for reform of the sperm banking industry, advocating better health and genetic screening of donors and an end to sperm bank secrecy.
Dr. Maxey is a member[8] of the PGP-10 — a group of ten volunteers who, as part of the Personal Genome Project, have agreed to let their complete genomes be released to the public domain.[9]
Maxey is also the author of a book of poetry, essays, and general short stories called "Pig Blood". In it, he "gather[s] some of his creative writing to document for his (as yet) unknown offspring his experiences, opinions, and a bit of his personality". The book is not meant to (and does not) "describe [Maxey's] experience or views as a sperm donor".[10]
A representative essay from this book can be viewed online, free of charge, through the CaBRI home page.