Barry Marshall

Picture of Barry Marshall (Superstars of Science website ())

I know some people feel uncomfortable being around injured or hurt people but I don't and I love helping others. I want to be a doctor or a health researcher and I found a perfect hero named Barry Marshall. Barry Marshall is a microbiologist/physician that has discovered something that other physicians believed to be false. He discovered, with the help of Robin Warren, that bacteria can live inside the acidic environment that is your stomach. This discovery also leads to the one of the causes of peptic ulcer. I found out on the Web MD website that peptic ulcer is a disease that causes some areas of your body, mainly your stomach, to be seriously damaged. If you want to know how it feels to be infected, ask someone to kick you in the stomach as hard as the can five times. It is possible that if the disease spreads to a blood vessel it can cause internal damage. In addition, it can be the main source of stomach cancer. The idea of bacteria living in such an acidic place was unimaginable to most doctors but Barry continued his research even though it was believed to be false. I admire his courage of going against what was thought to be known and did what he believed.

To become a physician you need a Bachelor's degree in medicine. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook website, (OOH), physicians work in an office or hospital helping others by giving them medicine and possibly performing surgery, and earn or $90.00 per hour, $187,200 per year. The job of a physician is quite similar to the job of a surgeon because you help cure people who are very sick. It's a hard job having to see people who are so close to death but somehow they manage to work and do their best to save them. I, for some reason, was interested in this. I was fascinated by how microbiologists discover things to help the rest of the world. I also found out microbiologist on the OOH website. Microbiologists study bacteria, viruses, and parasites to figure out how they function so they can try to find a way how to cure those infected with one of these diseases. Microbiologists earn $31.86 per hour which is about $66,260 per year. To become a microbiologist a bachelor's degree is also needed. It is a very long process but in the end I think it is worth it.

Barry Marshall with Robin Warren (Australia Unlimited website ())

When Dr. Marshall was a kid his mother was a nurse so he was very influenced by her and her job. Before he made his big discovery he had to start somewhere. Dr. Marshall was a student at Newman College and the University of Western Australia and he was a very smart and very respectful person. After Dr. Marshall graduated he then started his job as a physician. He then decided to become a microbiologist. Based on the Today I Found Out website Dr. Marshall would generally test his experiments on pigs because it was not legal to test it on other living human beings. Eventually Dr. Marshall was confident that bacteria does live in your stomach so he decided to inject the disease into himself to prove his theory. Only a few days past and Dr. Marshall was infected with peptic ulcer. He then started to give himself antibiotics and after some time he was cured. He just had proven his theory correct. Barry Marshall then the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2005 for his discovery. Dr. Marshall continues his research more about other bacteria and viruses.

Health doctors were sometimes clueless as to why their patients were suddenly infected with peptic ulcer but thanks to Barry Marshall they now have a better understanding of how to help cure them. Many lives around the world were saved by his discovery and Robin Warren his coworker said that "Obviously, it's the best thing that can ever happen to somebody in medical research. It's just incredible." You don't have to be the smartest person in the world to do invent or discover something new but by showing people that you can do something and not just telling them about it is the best thing to do. Barry Marshall should always be remembered for his great discovery.

Barry Marshall is a name not known to most of the world, but to me he will never be forgotten for what he has accomplished. He has inspired me to take anatomy, volunteer at a hospital, and to join special health clubs or classes that will help me on my journey through life. Once I graduate high school, I'm going to college as soon as I can. I plan on going to the best college I can no matter how far away it is or how difficult it will be. I know for a fact that Barry will always be somewhere in my thoughts and he will be encouraging me to do my best and stand up for what I believe in. I want to also be known for doing something great that may not affect the entire world but help open a new path to people. In my life I know that anything can happen to me. Things may be forgotten and others may be remembered. But Barry Marshall will always be an inspirational career role model for me.