Medical research

From 1972 to 2002, I worked as a clinical scientist investigating the factors that influenced gastrointestinal function and how they might be relevant to the kind of illnesses I saw frequently in my gastroenterology clinic. These included irritable bowel syndrome, coeliac disease, chronic constipation, dyspepsia and faecal incontinence.

I enjoyed medical research. It appealed to the explorer in me. It was a wonderful privilege to have the opportunity to observe new phenomena, conceive new ideas and to discuss and develop them with others.

In collaboration with colleagues both in the UK and in the United States and Australia and assisted by over 50 research students, we published over 500 scientific papers and review articles, covering a wide variety of different topics associated with the gut. The following contains an outline of our findings in each category and a sample of published papers.

Psychological influences on the gut

Emotional upset determines the persistence of gastroenteritis after the infection has gone

Diagnostic Criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Measuring intestinal gas in the bath

A model to study colonic fermentation

Fibre and Gastrointestinal Function

Food and mood

The intestinal regulation of eating behaviour

Sensitivity to fat in dyspepsia

Disturbed gastroduodenal motility in duodenal ulcer patients

A method for measuring the activity of the gastropyloroduodenal unit in man

The Intestinal Regulation of Gastric Emptying

The Ileal Brake

Small Intestinal Transit and Motility

Spinal Injury

Haemorrhoids

Faecal impaction in the elderly

Constipation; the thief of time!

Faecal Incontinence

Rectal Sensitivity

Anorectal Function

Travelling the world on diarrhoea

A laboratory epidemic of gastritis

Electrical Measurement of Gastrointestinal Transport

Smoking sidelines your sphincter