Cryptococcosis is a potentially fatal fungal disease caused by one of two species; Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii. Both were previously thought to be subspecies of C. neoformans but have now been identified as distinct species.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's mission is to conduct basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
Mark Arnold Wainberg, was a Canadian HIV/AIDS researcher and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the Director of the McGill University AIDS Centre at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital and Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology at McGill University. His laboratory primarily studies HIV reverse transcriptase, the molecular basis for drug resistance, and gene therapy. He received a B.Sc. from McGill University in 1966, a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1972, and did his post-doctoral research at Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University.
The AIDS Clinical Trials Group network (ACTG) is one of the largest HIV clinical trials organizations in the world, playing a major role in setting standards of care for HIV infection and opportunistic diseases related to HIV and AIDS in the United States and the developing world. The ACTG is composed of, and directed by, leading clinical scientists in HIV/AIDS therapeutic research. The ACTG is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Following initial infection a person may not notice any symptoms, or may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. Typically, this is followed by a prolonged period with no symptoms. If the infection progresses, it interferes more with the immune system, increasing the risk of developing common infections such as tuberculosis, as well as other opportunistic infections, and tumors which are otherwise rare in people who have normal immune function. These late symptoms of infection are referred to as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This stage is often also associated with unintended weight loss.
Douglas D. Richman is an American infectious diseases physician and medical virologist. Richman's work has focused on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, since its appearance in the early 1980s. His major contributions have been in the areas of treatment, drug resistance, and pathogenicity.
HIV/AIDS was first detected in Canada in 1982. In 2016, there were approximately 63,100 people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada. It was estimated that 9090 persons were living with undiagnosed HIV at the end of 2016. Mortality has decreased due to medical advances against HIV/AIDS, especially highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
William Harding le Riche was a South African–born Canadian epidemiologist. He was Professor of Epidemiology (emeritus) at University of Toronto.
The United States Military HIV Research Program was initiated by the United States Congress in 1986, in reaction to the threat of lost effectiveness of U.S./Allied troops due to HIV infection. The mission of MHRP is to develop an HIV-1 vaccine, provide prevention, care, and treatment, and conduct meaningful HIV/AIDS research for the global community through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It is centered at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), and has established five international research sites in Africa and Asia. MHRP also partners with the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) in Thailand. MHRP works closely with The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF), most notably in the development of the RV144 HIV vaccine in Thailand. MHRP is the largest research program supported by the HJF.
Jeffrey P. Nadler is an American Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS expert. His most recent position has been as Acting Director and Assistant Director of the Therapeutics Research Program, Division of AIDS (DAIDS), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) where he oversaw NIH/NIAID-sponsored national and international HIV/AIDS research.
Dr. Allan R. Ronald is a Canadian doctor and microbiologist. He has been instrumental in the investigation into sexually transmitted infections in Africa, particularly in the fields of HIV/AIDS. Ronald is the recipient of multiple awards and honours.
Myron Scott Cohen is an American physician-scientist who has made substantial contributions to our understanding of the transmission prevention of transmission of HIV. He is best known as chief architect of HIV Prevention Trials Network 052, a large-scale randomized clinical trial which demonstrated proof-of-concept for “treatment as prevention”: treating an HIV-infected person with antiviral drugs makes them less contagious and prevents transmission to their sexual partners. Cohen is J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also co-chair of the National Institutes of Health's HIV Prevention Trials Network.
Julio S. G. Montaner, is an Argentinean-Canadian physician, professor and researcher. He is the director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the chair in AIDS Research and head of the Division of AIDS in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and the past-president of the International AIDS Society. He is also the director of the John Ruedy Immunodeficiency Clinic, and the Physician Program Director for HIV/AIDS PHC. He is known for his work on HAART, a role in the discovery of triple therapy as an effective treatment for HIV in the late 1990s, and a role in advocating the "Treatment as Prevention" Strategy in the mid-2000s, led by Myron Cohen of the HPTN 052 trial..
Deborah Persaud is an South America-born American virologist who primarily works on HIV/AIDS at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
The Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada is a Canadian national medical specialty association composed of specialists in infectious diseases and medical microbiology, clinical microbiologists and researchers specializing in preventing, diagnosing, and treating infections. The association is a national specialty society recognized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The association promotes the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human infectious diseases through our involvement in education, research, clinical practice and patient advocacy. Position papers and guidelines in support of this mission are published in the official Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - JAMMI and/or posted on the organization's website. Prior to January 1, 2016, these were published in the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology The annual meeting of the association occurs in the spring at which members present information of mutual interest.
Francis Allan Plummer was a Canadian scientist, academic and HIV/AIDS researcher. He was "a recognized specialist in infectious diseases whose work influenced public health policy in Canada and abroad". He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba and Scientific Director General, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada. From 1984 until 2000 he worked in Nairobi, Kenya studying sexually transmitted infections. During his time in Kenya, his research described the heterosexual epidemiology of HIV and the role of male circumcision in reducing HIV infection risk in men. While at the National Microbiology Laboratory, he led the Canadian laboratory response to SARS, the H1N1 pandemic and oversaw the development of the successful VSV EBOV vaccine for Ebola viral hemorrhagic fever. Dr. Plummer was working to develop an HIV vaccine at the time of his death, and was believed to be the first recipient in North America to receive DBS to treat alcohol-use disorder, in an experimental trial.
Suniti Solomon was an Indian physician and microbiologist who pioneered AIDS research and prevention in India after having diagnosed the first Indian AIDS cases among the Chennai sex workers in 1986 along with her student Sellappan Nirmala. She founded the Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education in Chennai. The Indian government conferred the National Women Bio-scientist Award on her. On 25 January 2017, Government of India announced "Padma Shri" award for her contribution towards Medicine.
Robert "Chip" T. Schooley is an American infectious disease physician, who is the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Senior Director of International Initiatives, and Co-Director at the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH), at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. He is an expert in HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infection and treatment, and in 2016, was the first physician to treat a patient in the United States with intravenous bacteriophage therapy for a systemic bacterial infection.
Diane Havlir is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the HIV/AIDS Division at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research considers novel therapeutic strategies to improve the lives of people with HIV and to support public health initiatives in East Africa. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.
Müge Çevik is a Turkish-British physician who is an infectious diseases researcher and science communicator at the University of St Andrews. Her research considers HIV, viral hepatitis, emerging infections and tropical infections in developing countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside working on the front lines of the response, Çevik was an advisor to the Chief Medical Officer of Scotland and the World Health Organisation.
