Raj K. Goyal received the prestigious Middleton Award at the National Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Research Week on Wednesday, May 22, 2014 for his life time contribution to advancing the field in biomedical research. The Middleton Award is the highest award in biomedical research given by the VA. Dr. Goyal earned his M.B.B.S. degree from Panjab University in 1960 and completed post-graduation (M.D.) at Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi in 1965.

After a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine, he joined as a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston in 1971 and later served as Professor of Medicine at University of Texas Health Center until 1981. He is currently at Harvard Medical School, Boston, holding endowed chairs of Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine and Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Professor of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Swallowing and Motility Program at the VA Boston Healthcare System.