Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Saturday, December 21, 1996 13:34:00 PM
Ho, the scientific director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center which has been in the vanguard of the battle against AIDS in the medical community, pioneered the use of drug "cocktails" to combat HIV, providing the first glimmers of hope to people with AIDS for better and longer lives.
"When the history of this era is written, it is likely that the men and women who turned the tide on AIDS will be seen as true heroes of the age," Time said in a statement.
"For helping lift a death sentence... on tens of thousands of AIDS sufferers, and for pioneering the treatment that might, just might, lead to a cure, David Ho is TIME's Man of the Year for 1996," the magazine said.
"Some people make headlines while others make history," Time noted in its accompanying article.
The past year has seen the greatest advancement in the medical fight against AIDS since the epidemic began 15 years ago, largely through the development of protease inhibitors which when combined with other anti-HIV drugs often reduce the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels.
"My colleagues and I are greatly appreciative of this recognition," Ho said in a statement.
"While there is finally reason for optimism ... much work remains to be done. These advances represent an improvement in treatment, not a cure. We have seen HIV stagger, but this tough foe has not been knocked down," Ho, a virologist and professor at Rockefeller University, said.
Nearly 23 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with HIV or AIDS, according to a recent U.N. report. Since the epidemic began 6.4 million people, including 1.4 million children, have died, with 1.5 million succumbing to the disease in 1996.
Time has not selected its Man of the Year from the scientific community since 1960, when it named 15 U.S. scientists Men of the Year.
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