Since 1994, to honor Donald Henry Barron, one of the founders of the Interdisciplinary Reproductive Biology Group, and to celebrate 26 years since the founding of the group in 1969, invited speakers of the IRB Group Seminar Series have been designated Donald Henry Barron Lecturers. Professor Donald Henry Barron was born on a farm in Flandreau, South Dakota, on April 9, 1905. He received the B.A. degree in Chemistry from Carleton College in 1928, the M.S. degree in Botany from Iowa State College in 1929, and the Ph.D. degree from Yale University in 1932.

Professor Barron's contributions to fetal-placental physiology were numerous and for these contributions Dr. Barron and Sir Joseph Barcroft together are considered the "Fathers of Fetal- Placental Physiology." Professor Barron was a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and has been referred to as the "Father of Scientific Obstetrics." After a distinguished career as a biologist, anatomist, neurophysiologist, and fetal-placental physiologist at Cambridge University, the University of Missouri, and Yale University, Professor Barron was named Professor Emeritus at Yale University. In July 1969, Professor Barron moved to the University of Florida to occupy the J. Wayne Reitz's Chair in Reproductive Biology and Medicine; there he began his second career.

Members of the Interdisciplinary Reproductive Biology Group benefited from Professor Barron's council daily. He was an exceptional example of how, through collaboration, scientists may educate one another in the principles of Reproductive Biology, and make significant contributions to the group through research and teaching. There was and always will be a profound respect for Professor Donald H. Barron and the acknowledgement of his central role in the development of the intellectual climate and spirit of collaborative research that is the hallmark of the University of Florida Interdisciplinary Reproductive Biology Group.