Honorary Doctorate for Scientist who Discovered that HIV causes AIDS

BY: .

UKZN has awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences to the internationally renowned scientist, Dr Robert Gallo, who in 1984 proved that HIV causes AIDS and has since spent much of his career trying to find cures for HIV and other viral, chronic illnesses.

Gallo, who is Director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States; was inspired to pursue a career as a research physician after the death from leukaemia of his six-year-old sister.

‘I was 13 and saw her in her final days when she was at a medical school’s Children’s Hospital which is where I caught my first glimpse of doctors seeking to do better, not satisfied with the present.’

Early on in his career in 1976, his lab discovered a way to grow human T cells for the first time due to a finding of a growth factor, a protein called the T cell growth factor, eventually becoming known as Interleukin-2, or IL-2, among the first cytokines.

They also discovered the first and the second known human retroviruses HTLV 1 & 2 which target CD4 T cells and are transmitted by blood, sex and mother’s milk. This was the start of his journey into the discovery that HIV leads to AIDS. Human trials of more than 100 different AIDS vaccines have taken place since Gallo proved in 1984 that HIV caused the disease.

Gallo and his team also pioneered the HIV blood test which verified the linkage of HIV to AIDS. ‘This was a necessity for scientific progress because whereas virus isolation was then quite difficult and few wished to try it, antibody testing was safe, simple and accurate.’ This breakthrough led to a more rapid diagnosis whilst simultaneously, protecting patients receiving blood transfusions.

In 1996, Gallo discovered that a natural compound known as chemokines could block HIV and halt the progression of AIDS. The discovery of the involvement of chemokine receptors in HIV-1 binding and entry opened the door for new approaches to controlling HIV-1 infection. Gallo’s study was hailed by the Science journal as one of that year’s most important scientific breakthroughs and eventually led to the development of Anti-Retroviral Therapy. Since then, new HIV infections have fallen by 35% and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 42% since the peak in 2004.

Gallo’s research has brought him international recognition as well as election into the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He has been awarded honours for his contribution to science from countries around the world and holds 34 honorary doctorates. He was the most referenced scientist in the world in the 1980s and 1990s, during which time he had the unique distinction of twice winning America’s most prestigious scientific award, the Albert Lasker Award in Medicine.

He is the author of more than 1 300 scientific publications.

 MaryAnn Francis