The Gabriel Tucker Professorship of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery

In l949 an anonymous donor created an endowment fund for Gabriel F. Tucker, Sr., MD, who at the time was Professor and Chair of the Department of Bronchology, Esophagology and Laryngeal Surgery in the University’s Graduate School of Medicine. During his lifetime, the income from the fund was used for research and training at his discretion. Upon his death, the conditions of the donor’s agreement provided for the establishment of the Gabriel Tucker Professorship.

Gabriel F. Tucker Sr. (1880–1958) was known worldwide, particularly for the invention of many new instruments for foreign body removal and for examination and treatment of the larynx, lung, and esophagus. He shared this talent with his sons, John A. Tucker, MD (1930–2016) and Gabriel F. Tucker, Jr., MD (1924–1986), who also became prominent laryngologists. Dr. John Tucker was a Penn alumnus who headed pediatric and adult laryngology programs at many Philadelphia hospitals and served as an adjunct professor of head and neck surgery from 2008 to 2011 at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Current Chairholder
Gregory Farwell, MD, FACS

Dr. Gregory Farwell is the Gabriel Tucker Professor and Chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Farwell attended medical school at Washington University, St. Louis, where he was exposed to the concept of becoming a physician-scientist through his extensive research in the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Neuroscience. He trained in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Washington and did a research fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute in Seattle before joining the faculty at the University of Washington for four years. There he was mentored in head and neck and microvascular surgery by Neal Futran, MD and ran the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck practice at Harborview Medical Center.

Dr. Farwell spent the next 17 years at UC Davis, including eight years as Division Chief of Head and Neck Oncologic and Reconstructive Surgery and five years as the Chair of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. During his time at UC Davis, his collaborations in bioengineering and biochemistry resulted in multiple successful NIH-funded research programs. His work with Laura Marcu, PhD looking at non-invasive tools for cancer diagnosis, translated novel, non-invasive fluorescent assessment of tissues from concept to animal model to a current human trial using the surgical robot.

Dr. Farwell has a strong commitment to teaching and modernizing the approach to educating surgeons and has been acknowledged by his international peers for his work in surgical education. He has been a leader in many national and international organizations, including service on the International Board of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osteosynthesefragen/Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (AO-ASIF), a multidisciplinary reconstructive surgical society dedicated to surgeon education and advancing knowledge. He was recently selected by the American College of Surgeons as a member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. He has brought this educational commitment to efforts to improve the diversity of his field and has run multiple outreach programs for high school and college students from underrepresented populations. 

Dr. Farwell has a passion for oncologic and reconstructive surgery and rehabilitating his patients to their full potential. Through the incredible team at UC Davis, he was the surgical leader of many innovative and complex reconstructions, including the world’s second laryngeal transplant. He has been instrumental at a national and international level in advancing the care of head and neck cancer patients. 

In 2021, Dr. Farwell was chosen to lead the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. His greatest joy is his family, including his wife Jennifer and two daughters, Sophia and Sarafina.

Previous Chairholder

Bert W. O'Malley, Jr., MD