Professor Ian J Cook
Professor Ian J Cook MB.BS(Hons), MD (Syd), FRACP.
Director, Gastrointestinal Motility Service and St George Swallow Centre; Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, St George Hospital, Sydney, and Professor of Medicine (Conjoint), University of NSW.
Professor Cook graduated with honours in Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1978, and was subsequently awarded his Doctorate in Medicine in 1989. He holds specialist qualifications in internal medicine (FRACP) specialising in gastroenterology. He completed research fellowships at McMaster University, Ontario (1985-1986); the Medical College of Wisconsin (1987); and the University of Adelaide where he held the Gwendolyn Michell Senior Research Fellowship in Medicine (1988-1990). He served as Director of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at St George Hospital from 1990 – 2010.
Over the past 20 years at St George Hospital, he has built an active research program exploring gastrointestinal motor disorders with a focus on pharyngo-oesophageal physiology, swallowing disorders, colonic motor function and the pathophysiology of severe constipation. Additional research interests include: correlation between symptoms and physiological measures in gut disease, sensory nerve dysfunction in functional gastrointestinal disease, the development of novel technologies for measuring gut contractile and propulsive function, and the evaluation of novel therapies in a range of gastrointestinal disorders. He has attracted near continuous funding from NH&MRC to support this research over 23 years. He has published more than 130 original papers, book chapters and review articles; and has served on the editorial boards of a number of international journals. In 2010 he received a Masters Award from the American Gastroenterology Association for Outstanding Contributions to Basic and Clinical Research in Gastroenterology.
He has served on Grant Review panels for, and has provided expert peer review of grants submitted to NH&MRC for 20 years. He has served on numerous national and international expert committees and research societies including American Gastroenterology Association, International Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, International Dysphagia Research Society (President 2003) and the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.
