Mosher and Fowler Awards Honor Legacies of Pioneers in Otolaryngology

The Triological Society recognizes outstanding annual thesis submissions through several awards. The two most prestigious are the Harris P. Mosher and the Edmund Prince Fowler Awards.

The Mosher Award, established in 1957, is bestowed each year to recognize excellence in clinical research, to perpetuate the ideals of Dr. Mosher, and to bequeath the responsibility of furthering the standards of perfection in study, teaching and practice of otolaryngology. The Fowler Award, established in 1971, recognizes a candidate whose thesis is judged outstanding in the basis science category. This award epitomizes all the attributes of Fowler’s style, character, and purpose.

Harris Peyton Mosher, MD, (1867-1954) also known as “The Chief” to colleagues and students, attended Harvard College and Harvard Medical School in Boston, earning his MD in 1896. He interned in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and in obstetrics at the Boston Lying-In Hospital. Later, Dr. Mosher taught the first U.S. course in sinus anatomy, and became chief of laryngology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He helped found the American Board of Otolaryngology, and served as its president for more than 20 years.

Dr. Mosher is also remembered for his intranasal ethmoidectomy technique and for his method for removal of safety pins swallowed by babies, which granted him a citation by the American College of Surgeons in 1934. He also designed surgical instruments that added to the arsenal of surgical tools of his time, and outlined surgical procedures that have become standardized.

Edmund Prince Fowler, MD, (1982-1966) once known as the “Dean of Audiology,” obtained his MD from Columbia University in New York, and joined the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital, while achieving the rank of clinical professor at Columbia in 1933. Dr. Fowler is known as one of the most prolific physicians of his time, having authored 113 publications. He was a member of 31 societies, and served as president for the Triological Society in 1932.

According to Clarence T. Sasaki, MD, Dr. Fowler’s lifelong ambition was to “improve hearing for all” (Laryngoscope. 1996;106:1463-1464; PDF). In his quest, he invented the modern clinical audiometer, drew important audiometric observations on the behavior of the injured ear and developed the Alternate Binaural Loudness Balance test, which allowed the measurement of altered auditory perception. Dr. Fowler also founded the first hearing center in the United States.