Presentation Of The Gabriel F. Tucker Award to Haskins K. Kashima, MD

Ellen M. Friedman, MD

I appreciate the opportunity to award the Gabriel Tucker Award for the American Laryngological Association. This award is intended to celebrate the career of someone who has made a significant contribution to either pediatric otolaryngology, and specifically laryngology, or to the Association itself. Our winner this year has made contributions in both areas. I feel particularly honored to be able to give this award, since both Dr Tucker and Dr Haskins Kashima, our recipient this year, were mentors to me during my early years. Both of these gentlemen have very similar characteristics in many areas. One is their commitment to teaching, and the other is their dedication to the pursuit of difficult answers for challenging laryngeal problems in children.

Specifically, Dr Haskins Kashima is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology as well as the Department of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has been a worldwide traveler and lecturer with conferences and invited speeches ranging from Waterville, Maine, to Yugoslavia. His many awards and celebrations include receiving the Teacher of the Year Award this year at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In particular, I would like to commend Dr Haskins Kashima for his work and his persisting endeavors to untangle the interesting mysteries concerning laryngeal papillomatosis, one of our most serious and complicating diseases in pediatric otolaryngology. It is my distinct pleasure to announce and to introduce to you Dr Haskins Kashima the 1996 recipient of the Gabriel Tucker Award.

Response Of The Recipient Of The Gabriel F. Tucker Award

Haskins K. Kashima, MD

Dr Ward, Fellow Members of the American Laryngological Association, and guests. Thank you, Dr Friedman, for your generous introduction and comments. I am grateful to the Association for selecting me to receive the 1996 Gabriel Tucker Award. My association with Dr Gabriel Tucker dates to 1960, at which time I was a clinical associate in the radiation branch of the National Cancer Institute and Dr Tucker was serving as a consultant in otolaryngology to the clinical center of the NIH at Bethesda. At Dr Tucker's monthly visits we discussed the esoterica of Hand Schuller-Christian disease and head and neck cancers, which were the focus of clinical interest in our branch at that time. During these visits, Dr Tucker reawakened my interest in the larynx, and I was deeply impressed by the gentle thoroughness of his interview and examination of patients.

Although I was 3 years into a surgical residency, with plans to specialize in pediatric general surgery, I returned to Barnes Hospital in St Louis and redirected my career goals to train in otolaryngology under Dr Joseph Ogura. In 1970 I accepted a position on the otolaryngology faculty at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and became heir to Dr Tucker's historic and valuable collection of whole organ sections of laryngectomy specimens. Although Dr Tucker had moved to Temple University, he was generous with his time to teach me all that he had learned in his careful study of these specimens. His Carnegie Collection of fetal larynges became the fertile ground from which Dr John Tucker has elucidated the growth and development of the fetal larynx. Gabriel Tucker's work continued in Chicago at Children's Memorial Hospital and in the whole organ sections of pediatric larynges presently under the productive guidance of Dr Lauren Holinger.

My recollections of Dr Gabriel Tucker are of a man who was totally committed to the science and practice of otolaryngology. He loved his patients, hi colleagues, and the specialty organizations. Who does not recall the image of the regal Tucker Promenade during the COSM meetings during the past 2 years? He was a dedicated teacher who inspired me to select this specialty for my career - a path that has led me to this podium. I am bursting with pride to receive the Gabriel Tucker Award, which honors Dr Gabriel Tucker, Jr, and his father, Dr Gabriel Tucker who was a distinguished pioneering otolaryngologist.

It is my pleasure to report that I spoke to Mrs Mary Tucker 2 days ago. She is well and sends her greeting to the members of this society. Thank you, one again, for naming me to receive the Gabriel Tucker Award for 1996.