Deafness Research Foundation Tapped the Talent of the Otological Community
As we look forward to the day when research unlocks the remaining secrets of hearing loss, we want to also remember the basis of current and future research. In this new column, “Pioneers in Hearing Health,” we will feature great individuals and organizations that have propelled the progress of finding a cure for hearing loss and balance disorders. Many of these fine contributors to otology, otolaryngology and audiology have directly participated in the support and promotion of the Deafness Research Foundation (DRF). In this column debut, we review how DRF came to be affiliated with the medical community through the formation of The Centurions. In future columns, we will spotlight some of the experts we mention below, as well as many worthy physicians we were unable to name who have not only supported DRF but who have made great contributions to their fields. Special thanks go to Wesley H. Bradley, M.D., who provided these recollections and assisted greatly in this column debut. Dr. Bradley is emeritus professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology) at Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y., past president of the American Otological Society and the first director of the Communicative Disorders Program at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., a former medical director of DRF and a pioneer in hearing health.
The Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) began as an expression of appreciation. A determined visionary, Collette Ramsey-Baker had had her hearing restored and wanted to do something to give back to the medical community to which she felt so indebted. One day, she approached her surgeon, Julius Lempert, M.D., an internationally renowned otologist who developed the pioneering fenestration operation (a procedure to restore serviceable hearing to people with conductive deafness), to ask him what he thought would be fitting gratitude. In that conversation, the idea of DRF was conceived and Mrs. Ramsey-Baker’s enthusiasm nourished the idea into reality. “She was a very dynamic leader and had a lot of energy to devote to the cause,” reflects Wesley Bradley, M.D.
Ramsey-Baker began DRF with a group of friends and neighbors located in New York and New Jersey, many of whom were leaders in finance and industry, with the only connection to the medical profession being her own otolaryngologist, Walter Petryshyn, M.D. From this group came the first board of directors, with Ramsey-Baker serving as the president of DRF. The young organization impressed Lempert and in his position of influence as a national expert on the fenestration operation, he spread word of DRF to other leading otologists whom he had instructed in the fenestration technique. Within a few years, many physicians knew of DRF, were convinced of its worthwhile mission and wanted to endorse the organization. Some of the earliest and strongest physician advocates of DRF were Gordon Hoople, M.D., George Shambaugh, M.D., Harry Rosenwasser, M.D., and Howard House, M.D., to name a few. “These individuals quickly saw the advantage of supporting a group that was firmly established to promote otological research,” says Bradley.
Physician support of DRF became formal in 1963 with the formation of the Centurions Club, later renamed The Centurions. Each Centurion pledged annual support to cover the administrative costs of DRF, thus allowing all funds raised by the Foundation to go directly to research. The Centurions’ endorsement also cemented DRF as a national organization.
The Centurions held their meetings in conjunction with annual meetings of the national medical societies. Soon another arm of support burgeoned, the DRF Auxiliary, a fundraising group consisting of the spouses of The Centurions.
Recognizing the great benefit of the medical community’s involvement, the DRF board of directors requested that the American Otological Society select two of its members as candidates for election to the board of directors of DRF. In 1966, Bradley and Jack Hough, M.D., were selected and elected as the first physician members of the DRF board of directors. This trend toward closer ties with the medical community continued until there was a significant representation of physicians on the DRF board of directors. “It finally settled into a healthy balance with a greater number of lay members, as well as strong and active representation from the medical community,” observes Bradley.
In 1967, DRF went a step further and created the position of medical director. Laurence Boies, M.D., of the University of Minnesota was the first physician to hold the position. Two years later, Harry Rosenwasser, M.D., was appointed and held the position of medical director for nearly 20 years. He was succeeded by Walter Petryshyn, the founding physician representative, who completed his involvement with DRF after almost a decade of serving as medical director.
Bradley asserts that it was the leadership of these early physicians, particularly Boies, Rosenwasser and John Lindsay, M.D., of the University of Chicago, that established the temporal bone registry and brought about the grant program to fund research. Boies and Lindsay were instrumental in establishing the research grant program in otolaryngology at the National Institutes of Health and brought their expertise together to launch DRF’s own grant program. During Rosenwasser’s tenure, the program matured into DRF’s principle mission activity.
The role of The Centurions in DRF’s success cannot be overstated. Society owes a great thanks to these supporting physicians for their part in sustaining the research that has led to so many of the treatments for hearing loss available today and the promise of future advances.
More than 1,800 Centurions support DRF and research in the field of hearing and balance science. To learn more about The Centurions and how to join, contact DRF or visit our Web site at www.drf.org.
