The Clinician's Guide to Acid/Peptic Disorders and Motility Disorders of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Henry P. Parkman is Professor of Medicine in the Gastroenterology Section of the Department of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.Dr. Parkman's gastroenterology training began with a gastrointestinal (GI) fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. His research investigated the inhibitory neural circuitry of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the barrier preventing gastroesophageal reflux. At the University of Pennsylvania, he also compared the clinical outcomes and costs of pneumatic dilation and surgical esophagomyotomy for treatment of patients with achalasia, a disorder involving abnormal LES neural control. Dr. Parkman extended his research training with an NIH research training fellowship in the Department of Physiology at Mayo Clinic where he studied the neural reflexes governed by the inferior mesenteric ganglion.Since joining the faculty of Temple University School of Medicine in 1990, Dr. Parkman has been actively involved in studying GI motility at both the basic science and clinical levels. His basic research has focused on gaining greater insights into excitation-contraction mechanisms for gastric and gallbladder muscle.Dr. Parkman is Director of the Clinical GI Motility Laboratory at Temple University Hospital. He has developed expertise in a comprehensive array of GI motility tests for clinical evaluation of patients, including specialized tests of gastric motility. His clinical research studies have focused primarily on esophageal and gastric motility in normal individuals and on clinical motility disorders of the esophagus and stomach, primarily achalasia and gastroparesis. He is funded with an NIH K24 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research Award entitled "Novel Evaluation & Treatment of Gastric Dysmotility." This grant allows him the time to perform research and mentor others.Dr. Parkman holds several positions for Temple University, the School of Medicine, and the Department of Medicine, including Director of the Clinical Research Center, Medical Director of the Office of Clinical Research, Vice Chair of the Research Committee for the Department of Medicine, and Chair of the IRB Adverse Events Committee.Dr. Parkman has been on the Council of the American Motility Society (AMS) for the last 6 years and has been President of the AMS for the last 2 years. The AMS is the national GI motility organization that seeks to foster excellence in research and medical practice in neurogastroenterology and GI motility. Dr. Parkman has been co-director of the highly successful biennial AMS Clinical Motility Courses.Robert S. Fisher is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Gastroenterology Section and Digestive Disease Center at Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Fisher obtained an undergraduate degree in Engineering from Princeton University. He attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine following which he completed a straight medical internship at the Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital of Northwestern University Medical School.Dr. Fisher spent a year studying medical applications of LASER energy at the United States Army Medical Research Laboratories in Fort Knox, Ken before serving 1 year in South Vietnam where he was awarded a Vietnamese Honor Medal by the South Vietnamese government and a Bronze Star by the U.S. Army. Dr. Fisher then completed a medical residency and chief residency at Temple University Hospital under the tutelage of Dr. Sol Sherry. He obtained training in gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before returning to the Temple University School of Medicine in 1972. Dr. Fisher has been Chief of the Gastroenterology Section at Temple for 21 years. Dr. Fisher's research has spanned the GI tract. Early in his career, he published a series of studies defining the physiology of the pyloric sphincter and its abnormality in patients with gastric ulcer disease. This was followed by the development of a number of scintigraphic techniques to quantitate aboral and retrograde movement of luminal contents through the gastrointestinal tract. The techniques included esophageal transit, gastroesophageal reflux, gastric emptying, enterogastric reflux, small bowel transit, and colonic transit, as well as whole gut scintigraphy. Dr. Fisher was the first investigator to demonstrate decreased gallbladder emptying as a pathogenetic factor in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstones. This observation was followed by a series of studies on the physiology of gallbladder motility. In more recent years, Dr. Fisher has focused on the distribution of acid in the upper gastrointestinal tract as it relates to gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's esophagus. Years ago, he opened the first multidisciplinary Functional Gastrointestinal Disease Center in the country. During his tenure, Dr. Fisher's research has been funded by the NIH as well as a host of pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Fisher has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, 130 invited chapters or reviews, and more than 150 abstracts.