Posted on August 20, 2004 at 9:55 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Dr. Basil I. Hirschowitz, professor of medicine and former director of the UAB division of gastroenterology, will be awarded the honorary doctor of medicine degree from the Sahlgrenska Academy of Goteborg University in Sweden on October 23.

Hirschowitz, who joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1959, was the school’s Distinguished Faculty Lecturer in 1988. He is internationally known as the designer of the first commercially used fiberoptic endoscope, the forerunner of today’s diagnostic endoscopes and laparoscopes. He also is a preeminent clinical researcher, and participated in most of the clinical trials leading to the development of modern peptic ulcer and anti-reflux drug treatment.