Michael Gottlieb

While in his first research position as assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, Michael Gottlieb published a paper in the Centers for Disease Control newsletter identifying the epidemic that would later become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Despite the federal government’s reluctance to address AIDS in the first years after this report, he worked to build the current consensus that the epidemic is an emergency that merits intensive research and funding. Since leaving UCLA in 1987 to open a private practice, he has devoted his career to treating AIDS patients and fostering AIDS research. He was one of the first researchers to test the drug AZT on AIDS patients. Along with screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, he is a cofounder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Gottlieb, who has written several books and published numerous articles about AIDS, received the Lifetime Science Award from the Center for the Study of Immunology and Aging. He is now considered one of the world’s preeminent AIDS doctors and researchers.