Philip Stell was the instigator and founder of the Otorhinolaryngological Research Society. He qualified from Edinburgh Medical School (MB ChB 1958) and went on to work in Edinburgh, Liverpool and St. Louis (FRCS Ed. 1962, England 1966.) before becoming a Consultant / senior lecturer in Otolaryngology at the University of Liverpool in 1965. In 1977 he was made Reader and, in 1979, Professor, which he remained until his retirement in 1992. He was awarded his Master of Surgery (ChM), for design of skin flaps, in 1976. His contribution to scientific Otolaryngology was enourmous, he published some 346 peer reviewed articles, edited 12 books, contributed to a further 39 and using his skills as a linguist (Assoc. Institute of Linguists, 1975), translated 11 other works. He read papers all over the world and collected some 19 eponymous lectureships. He won numerous prizes including the Semon medal (1996), Yeardsley Medal (1980), the William Wilde Prize (1988) and the Walter Jobson -Horne prize (1989) Another of his major achievements in UK Otolaryngology was the founding of the Journal Clincal Otolaryngology in 1975 (ed.1977-1982, chairman of ed. board, 1982-1992), The founding of the ORS itself was in May 1978. The first meeting of the ORS was in October 1978 in London and he remained the secretary until 1981. He was president of many academic bodies including the ORS (1984-86), RSM section of Laryngology (1990-91), British Academic ORL Society (1991-92) and the Association of Head and Neck Oncologists of Great Britain (1986-89). He retired through ill helath in 1992 and worked as a research assistant in the Centre of Medieval Studies in York instead. Sadly, Professor Stell died recently, but his work very much still lives on today.
(with thanks to Patrick Bradley)
