Introduction to Guest Editor

Dr. David E. Beck is Chairman of the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dave was born in Geneva, Illinois. He received a BS degree as a distinguished graduate from the United States Air Force Academy and his MD from the University of Miami in Florida. He completed his general surgery residency at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas. After spending a year as an Air Force general surgeon at a small base in Florida, he completed a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Beck then returned to Wilford Hall to serve as the Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery and eventually as Chairman of the Department of General Surgery. During his Air Force career, he served as the Air Force Surgeon General's Consultant in Colon and Rectal Surgery and during the Gulf War served as Chief of Surgery at the 81 Contingency Hospital located at Little Rissington, United Kingdom. In 1993, he joined the colorectal staff at the Ochsner Clinic and in 1995 became Chairman of the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery. In 2005, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Ochsner Clinic.

Dr. Beck maintains a busy clinic practice in New Orleans with an emphasis on inflammatory bowel disease, anal cancer, stomas, adhesions, bowel preparation, sphincter-saving surgery for cancer, and laparoscopic surgery. He also sees many patients with functional bowel disease. Dr. Beck educates medical students, residents, and colorectal surgery trainees on a daily basis and mentors trainees and junior faculty. He is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Queensland, Australia and is on the clinical faculty at the Louisiana State University and the Uniformed Services University Schools of Medicine.

Dr. Beck assumed the duties of Editor in Chief of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery in January 2000. He has previously served on the Editorial Board of Diseases of the Colon and Rectum and is also currently the Editor in Chief of The Ochsner Journal. Dr. Beck has been a guest editor of several previous issues of Clinics and is the author and editor of seven textbooks, including the first and second editions of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery (ASCRS) Textbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the ASCRS Manual of Colon and Rectal Surgery, as well as the third edition of the Handbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery. He has published more than 100 book chapters and monographs and more than 150 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Beck is the immediate past president of the ASCRS and serves on multiple committees of the ASCRS, and is a member of multiple medical associations. An active researcher, Dr. Beck received the ASCRS Outstanding Young Investigator's Award in 1992, and is a member of the board of trustees of the ASCRS Research Foundation. He is also listed in Best Doctors in America, Who's Who in America, and was selected as one of Good Housekeeping's Top 318 Cancer Doctors for Women.

David Beck and his wife, Sharon, live in Madisonville, Louisiana. When not working, he enjoys fishing, gardening, and woodworking.

On behalf of the readers of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, the editorial board thanks Dr. Beck for serving as Guest Editor and for providing an important issue on functional bowel disease.