Dr. Awl was born in Pennsylvania, began his medical apprenticeship in Harrisburg (1817), entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1819, but did not obtain a degree. He received honorary degrees of M.D. from Jefferson Medical College (1834) and the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati (1837). In 1826, he moved to Ohio, living in several locations before settling in Columbus (1833), where he remained for the rest of his life.
In 1835, he was one of the founders of the Ohio Medical Society, under the name of the Ohio Medical Convention.The Convention discussed the establishment of a proprietary hospital for the care of the insane and a school for the education of the blind. The legislature approved an appropriation for the hospital, which was completed in 1838 with Dr. Awl named as the superintendent. He later headed a movement to establish a school for the blind and one for the feeble-minded. Both were later established.
Dr. Awl was one of the original 13 founders of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane. At the association’s first meeting in Philadelphia in 1844, he was elected Vice President and served as President (1848–51).