About the contributor

• Hiroshi Mashimo
• Raj K. Goyal

Hiroshi Mashimo

Hiroshi Mashimo is currently Chief of Gastroenterology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his A.B. at Harvard College and his M.S., M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his medical internship, residency, and gastroenterology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. His interest in molecular physiology led to advanced research and clinical training at Harvard Medical School, with Dr Daniel K. Podolsky and Dr Mark C. Fishman at Massachusetts General Hospital, and with Dr Raj K. Goyal at Beth Israel Hospital. His pioneering work using genetically altered mice models to understand basic gastrointestinal physiology has led to important understandings of the distinct roles of various mediators such as nitric oxide synthases and vasoactive intestinal peptides in the field of gastrointestinal motility. He has continued his interest in clinical gastrointestinal motility as Director of the Swallowing and Motility Disorders services at the VA Boston Healthcare, and is involved with training and teaching of students, residents and fellows at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the VA Boston Healthcare, and Harvard Medical School. He has published numerous original and review articles in various medical and scientific journals.

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.