Louis T. Benezet Award

Albert Mehl '77 is a recipient of the 2024 Louis T. Benezet Award.

At CC, Albert majored in Chemistry, then went on to attend the University of Colorado Medical Center to became a pediatrician. While serving as Chair of Pediatrics at Boulder Community Hospital, he played a key role in one of the earliest trials of screening and intervention for newborn hearing loss. Results of that trial showed that newborn hearing loss was much more common than previously thought, and Albert became an advocate for performing a hearing test on every newborn. He published a number of influential, widely cited papers showing the benefits of routine newborn hearing screening and early intervention. He chaired professional committees on newborn hearing screening and traveled widely to promote routine screening and early intervention. As a result of Albert’s work, early intervention is now the norm, and children who are born deaf or hard of hearing are showing dramatically improved outcomes. We honor him for work that has significantly improved the lives of countless newborns and their families.