By Hollen Dodds
Public Relations

With six decades under his belt, surgeon Peter Cotton, M.D., easily could have just retired.

Instead the founder of the MUSC Digestive Disease Center, though retiring from clinical work, is continuing his research efforts and raising funds to support postgraduates who wish to gain more experience of advanced endoscopy procedures.

His recently published memoir, "The Tunnel at the End of the Light: My Endoscopic Journey in Six Decades," highlights experiences from his career that started in London and continued at Duke, before coming to MUSC in 1994. "Some amusing things have happened while traveling to teach in more than 50 countries, especially in the early days," he said.

Sales of Dr. Peter Cotton's published personal memoir and his children's book help MUSC and the Endoscopy Training Fund.

All proceeds from book sales benefit the Endoscopy Training Fund that has been established in MUSC Foundation. Book sales have already raised $30,000, with bulk orders going to India, Australia and Hong Kong and a Chinese translation in the works. Many of Cotton's prior trainees from many countries have given or pledged substantial sums to the fund.

Cotton said he is reaching out to patients and industry to support this initiative. He feels it is important to raise money to support international trainees, as well as those from North America.

"That has been a major commitment for me throughout my career. Although gastrointestinal endoscopy is now used all over the world, there are still only a small number of centers like MUSC that are at the cutting edge of development and can help train the leaders of the future."

Donations to the Endoscopy Training Fund and purchases of his personal memoir may be made at http://www.peterbcotton.com.