title: George Ryerson Fowler: Brooklyn's surgical pioneer: a biographical sketch based on historical documents.
abstract: The Fowler position, widely used in surgery and obstetrics for patient placement, marks a fraction of 19th-century Brooklyn surgeon George Ryerson Fowler's prodigious accomplishments. Fowler was a pioneer who refined the appendectomy, performed the first lung decortication, advocated for sterile techniques, introduced first aid in the US Army, and helped start a precursor to Annals of Surgery. His publications include the first US textbook on appendicitis--ironically, the disease that killed him.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University, New York, USA. mary.kelleher@nyumc.org
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kelleher
authors.forename: Kenneth G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Swan
authors.forename: Denis P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kelleher
mesh_terms: D001062:Appendectomy / Q000193:education / Q000266:history*; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D011187:Posture