Dr. Robert Gallo to Receive National Minority Health Month Foundation Award
March 28, 2006
Gallo Receives Prestigious Severo Ochoa Award
for HIV/AIDS Work
 (BALTIMORE,
MD) – On Tuesday, April 11, 2006, Dr. Robert C. Gallo, founder and director
of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) and a co-discoverer of the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), will receive the Severo Ochoa Award for his work in HIV/AIDS.
The Severo Ochoa Award, named after the first Hispanic American to win a Nobel
Prize in medicine, is given to a distinguished scientist who is dedicated to
eradicating HIV/AIDS in minority communities.
Dr. Gallo will receive the award at the third annual National
Minority Health Month Foundation (NMHMF) leadership awards luncheon in Washington,
D.C., where he joins Elijah Cummings, representative of Maryland’s seventh
congressional district, and recipient of the foundation’s Lifetime Achievement
Award.
IHV has pioneered innovative HIV/AIDS treatment and support in the Baltimore
minority community through the JACQUES Initiative. The unique program was designed
to help patients, families and friends better understand HIV/AIDS and its treatment
and provides intensive one-on-one support, educational workshops and drug treatment
assistance. Through JACQUES and other clinical efforts, IHV treats more than
4,000 Marylanders living with HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Gallo pioneered the field of human retrovirology in 1980 by discovering
the first human retrovirus (HTLV-1) and showing it to cause a particular form
of human leukemia. A year later, he and his group of researchers discovered
the second known human retrovirus (HTLV-2), which was followed in 1984 by the
landmark discovery by Dr. Gallo and his colleagues of HIV. Gallo and his team
provided the first results to show that HIV was the cause of AIDS and developed
the life saving HIV blood test.
In addition to the Severo Ochoa Award, Dr. Gallo has received 21 honorary doctorates
and many scientific awards. He is a member of numerous professional and honorary
societies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; the Institute of
Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; the Royal Society of Medicine
(Scotland); the Royal Society of Medicine (Belgium); and the National Inventors
Hall of Fame.
The non-profit National Minority Health Month Foundation works to eliminate
the disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable illness in racial
and ethnic minorities and other special populations through evidence-based initiatives.
IHV is a center of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI)
and affiliated with the University
of Maryland School of Medicine.
Related Information:
|
