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Barry Marshall

Birth and Nationality

Barry Marshall, a famous Australian physician, was born on the 30th of September 1951 in Kalgoorie, Western Australia. Barry was the eldest among four children. When he was eight, his parents decided to move to Perth. His father was a welder and his mother was a nurse.

Education

As a young student, Barry Marshall never failed to showcase his intelligence which led in granting him a scholarship in University of Western Australia. He attended medical education in UWA until he finished Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1974. Apart from UWA, Barry Marshall also attended New Man College.

Personal Life

In 1972, he married Adrienne, then psychologist student whom he met in UWA. Barry Marshall and Adrienne were blessed with four children.

Career and Awards

In Perth, Barry Marshall practiced general medicine at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Center. It was in Royal Perth Hospital where he had his residency. In 1979, he was designated as the hospital’s Registrar in Medicine. It was during this time when he explored various fields of medicine which included gastroenterology. In 1981, together with Robin Warren, he investigated spiral bacteria and its connection to gastritis which eventually led to a hypothesis that would relate the bacteria to peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. But, his study was not enthusiastically welcomed in the medical field and everyone was against his conclusion. So, in 1984, to prove his study, he swallowed a few ounces of the bacteria to prove that these cause gastritis. Shortly after, he developed the gastrointestinal disease. Due to the experiment, he and his partner received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded in 2005 at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Some of his awards include the following: