Visiting Professor of Excellence in Gastroenterology Memorial Lecture
Ray Clouse, MD was born in Elkhart, Indiana, and raised in Nappanee, a small community in northern Indiana. He earned his bachelor’s degree with highest distinction from Purdue University. He then received his MD degree in 1976 from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
Dr. Clouse completed his internship and residency in internal medicine in 1978 at Barnes Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine. He continued his training as a fellow in Gastroenterology, prior to joining the faculty of the Division of Gastroenterology in 1980. Over a career spanning 27 years, Dr. Clouse rose through the faculty ranks to attain the position of Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry.
Dr. Clouse was actively involved in several professional societies including the American Motility Society and the American Gastroenterological Associations, where he won national acclaim as a scholar and educator in clinical gastroenterology. Dr. Clouse’s areas of investigative interest included esophageal motor physiology and pathophysiology, factors affecting presentation and treatment response in functional gastrointestinal disorders, and psychiatric interactions with medical illness.
Dr. Clouse’s research interests fell into two broad categories. The first was that of mind-gut interactions, with specific attention to the functional gastroenterological disorders. He had long been curious about the relationship of psychiatric disorders to these gastrointestinal syndromes. Dr. Clouse and colleagues demonstrated the high prevalence of psychiatric illness, specifically anxiety and affective disorders, in patients seeking health care for symptoms of esophageal motor dysfunction. Current research in this area is directed at the concepts of somatization, both in pathophysiology and treatment. He also maintained an interest in the role of psychopharmacologic agents in treating symptoms from functional gastroenterological disorders. Dr. Clouse’s second area of research interest was in esophageal motor function. He felt an important drive to improve the clinical utility of manometric testing, to shorten the learning curve to proficiency in interpreting manometric studies, and to provide better consistency in manometric diagnosis. His research work focused on carefully analyzing and classifying normal and abnormal aspects of pressure waves. Over the past decade he systematically established a large data bank of manometric recordings so that the findings could be statistically examined and compared with clinical features and outcomes. We continue to use this data bank in ongoing studies and expect the results to improve manometric diagnosis and increase the utility of manometric testing.
Upcoming – 14th Annual Ray E. Clouse Visiting Professor of Excellence (2022) –
TBD
Previous Visiting Professors
| Year | Previous Visiting Professor | Title of Talk |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Satish S.C. Rao, MD, PhD, FRCP(LON), FACG, AGAF Augusta University | “Gas and Bloating” |
| 2020 | Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, this lecture did not take place in 2020 | |
| 2019 | Yuri A. Saito Loftus, MD Associate Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic | “IBS and Diet: Fact Versus Fad?” |
| 2018 | John Pandolfino, MD Chief, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University | “The Evolution of FLIP: Lessons Learned from Ray Clouse” |
| 2017 | Jay Pasricha, MBBS, MD Professor of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital | “Gastroparesis: New Insight and Treatments” |
| 2016 | David A. Katzka, MD Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School | “Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, Rumination and Belching: Distinct Disorders or one in the same?” |
| 2015 | Michael Camilleri, MD Atherton and Winifred W. Bean Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School | “Biomarkers for Diagnosis or Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome” |
| 2014 | Reza Shaker, MD Joseph E. Geenen Professor and Chief Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical College of Wisconsin | “Restrictive and Permissive Disorders of UES: Dysphagia and Supraesophageal Reflux Disease” |
| 2013 | Lin Chang, MD Professor of Medicine David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA | “Current Insights on the Causes of Functional Bowel Disorders and How They Impact Treatment” |
| 2012 | Peter J. Kahrilas, MD Gilbert H. Marquardt Professor of Medicine Division of Gastroenterology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University | “Evaluation of Esophageal Dysphagia” |
| 2011 | Douglas A. Drossman, MD Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry Co-Director, University of North Carolina Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders University of North Carolina School of Medicine | “Narcotic Bowel Syndrome” |
| 2010 | Joel E. Richter, MD Richard L. Evans Professor of Medicine Chair, Department of Medicine Temple University School of Medicine | “Refractory GERD: More questions than answers” |
| 2009 | Emeran A. Mayer, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine, Physiology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences University of California-Los Angeles | “The Emerging Neurobiology of Somatization” |
| 2008 | Daniel A. Sifrim, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium | “The Role of Inhibition in Esophageal Physiology and Pathophysiology” |