Richard Warwick McCallum M.D.

January 21, 1945 - August 21, 2025 Dr. Richard Warwick McCallum MD, a pioneer and internationally recognized leader in the field of neuro-gastroenterology, gastrointestinal motility and gastric emptying disorders, died peacefully on August 21st, 2025 at UMC Hospital in El Paso Texas after battling an illness. He was an accomplished physician scientist, mentor, doctor of doctors and a family man.
Dr. McCallum was born on January 21,1945 in Brisbane, Australia, into a medical family. His father, Norman Yates McCalum was a distinguished dermatologist. He attended the University of Queensland and the Queensland Medical School. After graduating medical school he moved to the US and completed his residency training at Charity Hospital and LSU in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then at Barnes Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He followed that with a GI Fellowship at The Wadsworth Veterans Hospital at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His academic appointments include the Director of Gastroenterology Endoscopy and Motility at Yale University, the Paul Janssen Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Virginia, as well as the Chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In 2009, he was recruited as the Founding Chair and Professor of the Department of Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) in El Paso, Texas. Here, he served as Director of GI Research and the Center of Neurogastroenterology and Motility and as a Medical Staff Officer serving as a Physician Leader. He was also appointed as an honorary Professor of Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Dr. McCallum made major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of gastroparesis, the brain-gut connection, and the mechanisms of nausea and vomiting and made seminal contributions to the development of Gastric Electrical Stimulation to treat gastroparesis. He pioneered clinical trials of numerous pharmacologic agents and diagnostic tests of gastroparesis as well as gastric electrophysiology in humans and is the inventor of the gastric pacemaker. His research has been funded by the American Diabetes Association and, as one of the founding members of Gastroparesis consortium, Dr. McCallum has been continuously funded from the National Institute of Heath for more than 15 years, including the only NIH research grant in both pediatrics and adult at TTUHSC that he received just before his death. He authored more than 500 peer-reviewed articles,130 textbook chapters, edited over 15 scientific textbooks and held multiple patents. He was also Editor-in-Chief of an International online journal (Gastrointestinal Disorders) and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Investigative Medicine (JIM), which is the official publication for the AmericanFederation for Clinical Research. He has mentored countless US and International physicians, students and trainees, including cutting edge researchers and Nobel prize winners. He was awarded multiple distinguished awards including the Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Academic Medicine from the Texas Medical Association (2016), the Washington University Alumni Achievement Award (2017), the ACP Laureate Award (2017) and Mentor of the Year from the American Gastroenterology Association (2018) as well as membership to the prestigious American Society of Clinical Investigation. Dr. McCallum served as the President of the El Paso County Medical Society (2020-2021) and President of the Texas Tech University Faculty Senate (2021-2022). He was known for his passion for medicine, his kind hearted bedside manner, his incredible generosity and contributions to the RotaCare Free Clinic in El Paso, which he founded.
He was a loving and giving husband, father and "Papa". Meticulous through his contributions and actions, he always treated everyone with kindness and generosity. Although he was rarely on time, he truly gave his time to everyone he knew. A true "Joie de vivre," Richard lived life to the fullest, never missing a good concert, especially his favorite band, The Rolling Stones. He treasured his family's beach vacations and would outlast everyone while body surfing big waves. A good cup of tea, oysters, social events, playing tennis, watching football and endless card games with his grandchildren were some of his favorites. He was always up for an adventure and no matter what he did, he was all in! He lived by his catch phrase, "Ready to rumble!"
Dr. McCallum is survived by his wife, Mary Beth McCallum, his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Marshall and grandchildren Summer and Huck Ferguson of Austin,TX, his son Yates and daughter-in-law Lexy and grandchildren Zeke and Colette McCallum of Charlottesville, VA, his daughter Heather McCallum and son-in-law Franklin Hardy and grandchildren Ren and Dash McCallum-Hardy of Los Angeles, CA, his sister Sue Roberts, Peter Jockel and two nephews Andrew and Nick Roberts of Brisbane, Australia as well as his nephew Joe Jovanovich of St. Louis, MO.
Memorial Service to be held at 2pm on September 27, 2025 at Christ Church 470 Eagle Drive El Paso, Texas 79912 with a light reception to follow. In lieu of flowers we ask that you donate to the Dr. Richard W. McCallum Medical Memorial Fund [https://tinyurl.com/McCallumMD] so his legacy may live on.