About the contributor

• Ravinder K. Mittal
• Raj K. Goyal

Ravinder K. Mittal

Ravinder K. Mittal obtained his medical degree from University of Delhi, India and completed his GI fellowship at Yale University. At present, he is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He has been interested in the physiology and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal motility since 1983. His work over these years has focused on the role of crural diaphragm as an antireflux barrier, pathophysiology of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation, muscle hypertrophy in spastic esophageal motor disorders and longitudinal muscle function in health and disease. More recently, his work has focused on the biomechanics of esophageal wall in relationship to its sensory and motor function, and the role of puborectalis muscle in fecal continence and incontinence.

Raj K. Goyal

Dr Raj K. Goyal is Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and staff physician at the VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS). He earned his M.B. B.S. from Amritsar Medical College, Panjab University, and his M.D. from Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi, in India. Following postdoctoral training at Yale University, he joined Baylor College of Medicine in 1971 and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1973. In 1978, he became chair of the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Texas in San Antonio. In 1981, he joined Harvard Medical School and became chair of the Division of Gastroenterology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He was later recruited to the VABHS and served as Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at the VABHS from 1995 to 2005. Dr. Goyal is an eminent gastroenterologist and an investigator whose research has provided some of the important advances in our understanding of esophageal and gastric physiology and diseases including Barrett's esophagus, enteric neurotransmission and the physiology and pathophysiology of esophageal and gastric motility. He provided the first evidence for the existence of muscarinic receptor subtypes. His work forms the basis of many current concepts regarding the regulation of esophageal sphincters, esophageal peristalsis, esophageal nocioceptors, gastroparesis and Barrett's esophagus. Dr Goyal has served on numerous editorial boards and was editor-in-chief of Gastroenterology from 1986 to 1991. He was the Founder President of the American Motility Society and is the recipient of its Distinguished Achievement Award.