Allen B. Kanavel (b. 2 Sept 1874, Kansas. d. 27 May 1938, California) was an American born surgeon, who remains, most known for his contribution to the clinical diagnosis of flexor tenosynovitis. Unbeknownst to most however, Kanavel, a great example of a generalist of his time, made significant contributions to plastic, hand, neurological and thyroid surgery. After graduating from the Northwestern University School of Medicine in 1896, Kanavel’s studies took him abroad to Vienna before returning to Chicago, Illinois. Kanavel was the first to describe the infranasal transsphenoidal approach to the pituitary and in 1909, along with urologist Victor Lespinasse, attempted to treat hydrocephalus in infants by coagulation of the choroid plexus through a cystoscope introduced into the ventricular system. He went on to write papers on the surgical anatomy of the trigeminal nerve, approaches to the pituitary and its associated masses and investigated the systemic effects of thyroidectomy. The culmination of the above led to his appointment as a professor of surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he established the Department of Neurological Surgery. In 1912, Kanavel published his written work and film titled “Infections of the Hand”, which remain to today the foundation on which plastic and hand surgery registrars clinically assess for infective flexor tenosynovitis. In recent studies, Kanavel’s Signs have demonstrated sound clinical reliability, with a sensitivity of 91-97% and a sensitivity of 51-69%. Kanavel went on to become a founder and later President of the American College of Surgeons in 1931-32, where he remained heavily involved until his untimely death in 1938, which attests to his leadership in surgery. Engelhard et al. 1998