James Christensen, M.D., never dreamed he’d become an international expert in the muscles of the stomach and intestines.
“I certainly didn’t start out knowing I’d become what I became,” said Dr. Christensen. “I just did what I thought was interesting.”
And there was plenty to be interested in at the time Dr. Christensen attended medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in the early 1950s. The technique of intracellular microelectrode recording had just been developed and the very first work on the electrophysiology of gastrointestinal smooth muscles had just begun.
“That’s really when I became interested in gastrointestinal motility,” he said.
Since graduating in 1957, Dr. Christensen has been a teacher, lecturer and leader.
He has conducted research on and written numerous papers about neurogastroenterology (the science of the nerves and muscles of the gastrointestinal tract), spent 32 years teaching medical students, residents and fellows at the University of Iowa and served in various offices including those of his professional society, the American Gastroenterological Association. He also is a lifelong amateur cellist.
In recognition of his distinguished career, Dr. Christensen is a recipient of the 2005 College of Medicine Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award.
After graduating from UNMC, Dr. Christensen did a rotating internship at Alameda County Hospitals in Oakland, Calif. He completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Iowa, where he joined the faculty in 1966.
One of the more memorable experiences Dr. Christensen relates is the time he spent as a field medical officer at the U.S. Public Health Service Indian Hospital on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, N.M.
“Only about 10 percent of our patients spoke English, and most of our patients were living in hogans without electricity or running water,” Dr. Christensen said. “There were three doctors at that hospital for about 25,000 people on the Navajo reservation. It was a wonderful experience.”
Today, Dr. Christensen lives on 20 acres just outside of Iowa City with his wife Carol. He is professor emeritus of internal medicine at the University of Iowa, where he still maintains an office, does library research and writes review articles.
Dr. Christensen has three grown children, Laura Ellen Christensen, Martha Anne Nussbaum and James Martin Christensen, and two grandchildren, Matisse and Beckett Christensen.
“Now I have music to play, fields to mow, an apple orchard to take care of and grandchildren to love,” Dr. Christensen said.