Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

SHENZHEN University welcomed its second distinguished professor Friday, Nobel laureate Barry Marshall, after Erick Maskin, an American economist and 2007 Nobel laureate, was appointed as the university’s first distinguished professor.

Marshall’s discovery that stomach ulcers could result from bacteria, and could be cured by antibiotics, led to his winning the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel laureate signed a contract with Shenzhen University to become a distinguished professor at the university’s College of Medicine during an appointment ceremony Friday.

Before being awarded the Nobel Prize, Marshall had been engaged in researching a gastrointestinal disease for more than two decades and developed products related to the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). He was also elected as the Chinese Academy of Engineering’s expatriate academician in 2011.

The Nobel laureate has been working closely with Shenzhen in recent years. An International Medical Center of Gastrointestinal Disease Study was established in his name in Dapeng New Area last year.

Under the cooperation deal for the medical center, Marshall comes to Kuichong People’s Hospital four times a year to see patients in Shenzhen. He is also responsible for providing research for the hospital’s individualized treatment of H. pylori.

Inviting Marshall to be the university’s distinguished professor is an important step as the College of Medicine enhances its cultivation of talents, scientific research and clinical application of study results, according to Li Qingquan, president of Shenzhen University.

The president also disclosed at Friday’s appointment ceremony that the Shenzhen University Affiliated Hospital, which was built and operated by the university, will be put into trial operation in the second half of this year.

Fully funded by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, the affiliated hospital is located in the University Town in Nanshan District.

The hospital will be a public and comprehensive hospital with 2,000 beds, said the president.