Robin Warren

Robin Warren AC
Warren in 2009
Born	John Robin Warren (1937-06-11)11 June 1937 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Died	23 July 2024(2024-07-23) (aged 87) Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	St Peter's College, Adelaide
Alma mater	University of Adelaide
Known for	Discovery of Helicobacter pylori
Awards	Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1997) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2005)
Scientific career
Fields	Pathologist
Institutions	Royal Perth Hospital

John Robin Warren AC (11 June 1937 – 23 July 2024) was an Australian pathologist, Nobel laureate, and researcher who is credited with the 1979 re-discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, together with Barry Marshall. The duo proved to the medical community that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the cause of most peptic ulcers.

Early life and education

Warren received his M.B.B.S. degree from the University of Adelaide, having completed his high school education at St Peter's College, Adelaide.

Career

Warren trained at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and became a Registrar in Clinical Pathology at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS). There, he worked in laboratory haematology, which generated his interest in pathology.

In 1963, Warren was appointed Honorary Clinical Assistant in Pathology and Honorary Registrar in Haematology at Royal Adelaide Hospital. Subsequently, he lectured in pathology at Adelaide University and then became Clinical Pathology Registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In 1967, Warren was elected to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and became a senior pathologist at the Royal Perth Hospital, where he spent the majority of his career.

Nobel Prize work

At the University of Western Australia, with his colleague Barry J. Marshall, Warren proved that the bacterium is the infectious cause of stomach ulcers. Warren helped develop a convenient diagnostic test (¹⁴
C-urea breath-test) for detecting H. pylori in ulcer patients.

In 2005, Warren and Marshall were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

An Australian documentary was made in 2006 about Warren and Marshall's road to the Nobel Prize, called "The Winner's Guide to the Nobel Prize". He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007.

Asteroid 254863 Robinwarren, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer Silvano Casulli in 2005, was named in his honour. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 April 2016 (M.P.C. 99893).

Personal life and death

Warren married Winifred Theresa Warren (née Williams) in the early 1960s, and together they had five children. Winifred Warren became an accomplished psychiatrist. Following her death in 1997, Warren retired from medicine.

Warren died in Perth, Australia, on 23 July 2024, at the age of 87.

See also

• Timeline of peptic ulcer disease and Helicobacter pylori

External links

• Robin Warren on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture Helicobacter - The Ease and Difficulty of a New Discovery
• Robin Warrens homepage