It is with great pleasure that I have the privilege of presenting the American Laryngological Association Award to a most deserving colleague and friend, Dr John G. Batsakis, a pathologist who has led the way in rhinology and laryngology and the head and neck in general for more than 30 years.

Dr Batsakis received his premedical education at the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, and Albion College, Albion, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1954, and completed a rotating internship at George Washington University Hospital and a residency in pathology at the University of Michigan. He then served for 2 years as Assistant Chief of the Laboratory Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. From 1961 through 1979, Dr Batsakis was a member of the faculty in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan, becoming Professor in 1968.

From 1979 to 1981, Dr Batsakis served as Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, and Professor of Pathology, University of Vermont. Since 1981, Dr Batsakis has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology of the University of Texas and Head of the Division of Pathology of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He has been the Ruth Legett Jones Professor of Pathology at that institution since 1983 and has been twice elected Chairman of the Executive Committee of the M. D. Anderson Hospital.

Dr Batsakis has been the principal source of new knowledge in pathology of head and neck neoplasia throughout my career. He has authored or coauthored over 450 peer-reviewed articles as well as nine books and has served or serves on numerous editorial boards and as co-editor of two pathology journals. The Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists honored him with the Harlan Spjut Award in 1992, and the American Society for Head and Neck Surgery recognized him with their Presidential Award in 1991 and as Honored Guest in 1993. In 1994, he was the Hayes Martin Lecturer.

The American Laryngological Association Award was established as a mark of recognition and esteem for an individual of outstanding achievement in medicine or in another field, who has contributed significantly to laryngology or rhinology. No one is more deserving of this award than is John Batsakis. He will enlighten us again with his presentation, "Nonsquamous Carcinomas of the Larynx."