David D Ho

David D. Ho, M.D. is the founding Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, a world-renowned biomedical research institute. He is also the Irene Diamond Professor at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Ho received his degrees from California Institute of Technology (1974) and Harvard Medical School (1978). Subsequently, he did his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center/UCLA School of Medicine (1978-1982) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (1982-1985), respectively. Dr. David Ho has been at the forefront of AIDS research for 27 years, publishing over 350 papers. His elegant studies, beginning in 1994, unveiled the dynamic nature of HIV replication in vivo and revolutionized our basic understanding of this horrific disease (Nature 1995; Science 1996). This knowledge led Dr. Ho to champion combination antiretroviral therapy (N. Engl. J. Med. 1995; Science 1996) that resulted in unprecedented control of HIV in patients (Nature 1997). AIDS mortality in richer nations has declined 6-fold since 1996, and a massive international effort is now underway to bring such life-saving treatment to millions in the developing world. Dr. Ho has been the major driving force behind this major medical breakthrough in what is arguably the worst plague in human history. Dr. Ho’s research team is now devoting considerable efforts to develop vaccines to halt the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Furthermore, he is now heading up a consortium of Chinese and American organizations to help address the crisis of HIV/AIDS in China. Dr. Ho is also an honorary professor at Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Wuhan University, and Fudan University. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and is a board member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation. Dr. Ho was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1996, and was the recipient of a Presidential Medal in 2001.