Professor emeritus creates gastroenterology chair

A $1 million bequest from the estate of Arthur M. Schoen, M.D., has created the School of Medicine's first chair in gastroenterology.

Schoen, a 1943 graduate from the School of Medicine, left money in his will to create a chair in his former department. Schoen practiced medicine for more than 50 years and was an emeritus clinical professor of medicine in UofL's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

According to 1954 UofL School of Medicine graduate David Nightingale, M.D., Schoen was the first fellowship-trained gastroenterologist in Louisville and was a leader in teaching, investigation and scholarly publications.

Schoen trained under Henry Bockus, M.D., who helped develop gastroenterology -- the study of the digestive system -- as a medical subspecialty. At UofL, Schoen was the first chief of gastroenterology at a time when the specialty was first developing, said Richard Wright, M.D., current chair of the division.

"Dr. Schoen was certainly a clinician at heart," Wright said. "He didn't want his gift to go to research but to provide salary support for a physician."

The Schoen/Brown Chair in Gastroenterology in the School of Medicine will be used to recruit a top clinician to the department.

It is the first endowed chair in the division and is named for Schoen and his wife, Elizabeth, and his sister-in-law Anna Lee Brown.

Schoen was an alumnus of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and a member of the Bockus International Society of Gastroenterology. He received his medical degree from UofL after earning an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and inspecting electrical lines for a power company.

Nightingale described Schoen as a caring physician who had an inquisitive mind and keen sense of humor.

"He cared about people and was concerned with their well-being. He brought smiles with his little jokes and stories, and loved to laugh," she said.

The Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology has 20 full-time faculty, nine fellows, five Ph.D. researchers and more than $10 million in National Institutes of Health grants, Wright said. It also runs the Digestive Health Center at University Hospital, the only such center in Louisville.