Wiley H. Harrison, M.D. (1921-2000)

Wiley H. Harrison, M.D., was the American Hearing Research Foundation’s President from 1998 to 2000, and Chairman of the Research Committee from 1978 to 2000.

The American Hearing Research Foundation gives a grant in honor of Dr. Harrison to support research in otology. Grant proposals are reviewed by CORE, with final say in the project selected remaining with the AHRF.

Dr. Harrison was born in Guthrie Center, Iowa, a farming community where his parents ran a small hospital. Dr. Harrison said that during the Depression, many of his father’s patients paid him in chickens. His father, a surgeon and country doctor, died when Dr. Harrison was five, but his ability to perform operations left a vivid impression.

After graduating from Grinell College, Iowa, Dr. Harrison followed in his father’s footsteps, obtaining a medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He served in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps at the close of World War II and in the Korean Conflict.

When it was time to choose a specialty, Dr. Harrison, who was about 6’ 5”, took his height into account. Rather than stoop over patients on the operating table, Dr. Harrison opted for a specialty where he could sit during operations. Dr. Harrison worked as a surgeon for 48 years and was responsible for developing several instruments used in ear surgery, including the Harrison knife. His research work focused on the medical treatment of otosclerosis and his findings were presented at medical meetings throughout the United States. He taught at Cook County Hospital and Northwestern University’s medical school where he was Associate Professor Emeritus of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Harrison, along with Drs. Eugene L. Derlacki and George E. Shambaugh, Jr., founded the Midwest Hearing Research Foundation in 1956, which became the American Hearing Research Foundation in 1974.

Previous Wiley H. Harrison, M.D. Grant Recipients:

2002
Quinton Gopen , MD
UCLA, Los Angeles , CA
“Unbiased Stereologic Estimates of Spiral Ganglion Cells and Auditory Nerve Fibers in Normal and Pathologic Human Temporal Bones”

2003
Yael Raz, MD
University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , PA
“SLIT/ROBO Signaling in the Developing Auditory System”

2004
No award given

2005
John Germiller, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia , Philadelphia , PA
“Stimulating Auditory Nerve Growth with Embryonic Factors”

2006
Ted Meyer, MD, PhD                                                     
Medical University of South Carolina , Charleston , SC
“ Signal Detection with Cochlear Implants”

2007
Adam Markaryan, PhD                                                              
The University of Chicago , Chicago , IL
“Mitochondrial DNA Deletions In Cochlear Tissues and Presbycusis”