I was hoping I was going to get an ulcer. I was hoping to boost my research career by developing a bleeding ulcer.

To gastroenterologists, the concept of a germ causing ulcers was like saying that the Earth is flat.

Obviously, it's the best thing that can ever happen to somebody in medical research. It's just incredible.

The 20th-century ulcer epidemic was a sign of good health in American people - good diet, strong acidity and healthy immune response actually make ulcers more likely. That's why businessmen eating giant T-bone steaks were prone to ulcers.

It was so frustrating to see ulcer patients having surgery, or even dying, when I knew a simple antibiotic treatment could fix the problem.

Before the 20th century, the ulcer was not a respectable disease. Doctors would say, 'You're under a lot of stress.' Nineteenth-century Europe and America had all these crazy health spas and quack treatments.