Dr. Satish Rattan Receives $1.6 Million NIH Grant for Gastroenterology Research

Satish Rattan, DVM, Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Jefferson Medical College, has received a five-year grant of $1.6 million from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award is to continue his research investigation on the "Neurohumoral Control of Internal Anal Sphincter."

Considered to be a pioneer in the field of gastrointestinal motility, Dr. Rattan has been working on the regulation of gastrointestinal sphincters for the last 25 years. Gastrointestinal sphincters serve as one-way valves enabling food to travel through the gastrointestinal tract during the digestive and excretion processes.

In recent years, Dr. Rattan and his colleagues have made significant advances in understanding the regulation of the internal anal sphincter (IAS), considered to be an extremely important organ in the digestive and excretion processes. The long-term goal of the research made possible by the NIH grant is to find ways to ease constipation and anorectal incontinence.

Dr. Rattan joined Jefferson as Professor of Medicine in 1989 from Harvard Medical School. During his career as teacher and scientist, he has made a number of landmark contributions to gastrointestinal motility and received the 1997 Janssen Award, one of the most prestitigious awards in Gastroenterology.