Nobel Laureate to deliver 2006 Florey Lecture

Wednesday, 26 July 2006

The general public is invited to the University of Adelaide for a free lecture on Wednesday 2 August to hear Dr J Robin Warren tell the story of his Nobel Prize-winning research.

2005 Nobel Laureate Dr Warren will deliver this year's Annual Florey Lecture on his discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. His research, conducted with joint Nobel winner Professor Barry Marshall, revolutionised the treatment of this condition.

Born in Adelaide and a medicine graduate of the University of Adelaide, Dr Warren's Nobel Prize last year increased the list of University of Adelaide Nobel Laureates to five.

The Florey Lecture - sponsored by the Florey Medical Research Foundation - is named after fellow Nobel Prize winner and University of Adelaide medicine graduate Lord Howard Florey for his work in developing penicillin. Former staff member Sir William Henry Bragg and his son Sir William Lawrence Bragg, another graduate, and Honorary Visiting Research Fellow Dr JM Coetzee make up the other University of Adelaide Nobel Laureates.

Dr Warren's research on Helicobacter was initially treated with scepticism because of its unconventional ideas but it has led to major benefits for human health.

After graduating from the University of Adelaide, Dr Warren worked as a junior resident medical officer before working at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and then the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 1967 and went on to work as a pathologist of the Royal Perth Hospital.

In 1996, Dr Warren was awarded the University of Adelaide's Distinguished Alumni award. He won the inaugural Florey Faulding Medal and prize in 1998 and, together with Professor Marshall, this year was awarded the Australian Medical Association's highest honour, its Gold Medal.

The Florey Lecture will be held in the Florey Lecture Theatre, Medical School North Building, University of Adelaide, Frome Road on Wednesday 2 August at 5.30pm. It is free and all are welcome.

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