Her Legacy Lives On: Celebrating the Women Behind Head and Neck Eponyms

Abstract

This article profiles 6 notable female scientists who have had eponyms named after them, highlighting their significant contributions to various medical fields and whose scientific endeavors have influenced our practice and understanding of otolaryngology. We discuss Łucja Frey Gottesman and her description of Frey's syndrome; Margaret Dix and the Dix‐Hallpike test; Lotte Strauss and her work defining Churg‐Strauss disease; Dorothy Reed Mendenhall's discovery of Reed‐Sternberg cells in Hodgkin's lymphoma; Edith Louise Potter defining Potter sequence in utero; Denise Louis‐Bar originally characterizing the condition now known as ataxia‐telangiectasia or Louis‐Bar syndrome. Despite the challenges these women faced as pioneering female physicians as well as personal and political turmoil, their contributions greatly advanced the fields of otolaryngology, neurology, neuropathology, perinatology, and pediatric pathology. We aim to honor their stories and medical legacies.