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West Australian Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall has been elected into the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences, an institution that was signed into being by US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at the height of the Civil War.

Professor Marshall - a graduate and staff member of The University of Western Australia - joins a handful of Australians who are among the more than 2,000 members and 390 foreign associates of the Academy.  Nearly 200 of the members have won Nobel Prizes.

New members and associates from nine countries were recently elected into the Academy - a private organisation of scientists and engineers dedicated to furthering science and technology and their use for public welfare.

"Professor Marshall's election represents further worldwide recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in research.  It also reflects well on the University and its commitment to achieving international excellence," UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson said.

Professor Marshall and his colleague, Emeritus Professor Robin Warren, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005 for their work in discovering that a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori , and not stress or poor diet as had been thought, was responsible for stomach ulcers.

Professor Marshall took one of the biggest risks of his life when he swallowed some of the bacteria to infect himself and prove his theory.

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  61 8  6488 5563  /  0432 637 716