Professor Barry Marshall AC
West Australian clinical professor, gastroenterologist and Nobel Laureate, Professor Barry Marshall AC, is a pioneer researcher responsible for the most significant medical discovery in the history of gastroenterology.
In 1982, together with fellow scientist Professor Robin Warren, Professor Marshall hypothesised that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori caused one of the world's most common diseases – peptic ulcer disease. Professor Marshall proved the germ was harmful in a well-publicised 1984 experiment in which he drank a culture of the bacterium and developed gastritis.
The scientists' discovery revolutionised the management of peptic ulcer disease, changing it from a chronic, disabling condition requiring surgery to one curable with a short course of antibiotics.
Professor Marshall was born in Kalgoorlie in 1951 and schooled at Marist Brothers College, Perth from 1960 to 1968. He completed his dual degree Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Western Australia in 1974.
In 1984, the World Health Organisation recognised Helicobacter pylori as the main cause of stomach cancer and in 2005, Professors Marshall and Warren won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their discovery.
Professor Marshall holds several appointments, awards and fellowships. In 1998 he was made a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society in Britain, and in 2008 was selected as a foreign member of the prestigious United States National Academy of Science, an institution established in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln.
He has been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 1999 and was made a companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2007.
Today, Professor Marshall is a Clinical Professor and Co-Director of the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training, at the University of Western Australia in Perth.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.