Margaret Fischl

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Margaret Fischl is an American physician, HIV/AIDS researcher, and professor of medicine at the University of Miami. [1] [2] She is notable for being one of the first researchers to discover the effectiveness of the antiretroviral medication azidothymidine (AZT) in treating patents with HIV/AIDS, as well as for helping build the University of Miami's AIDS Clinical Research Unit, of which she served as director. [3] [4] [5] Fischl attended the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where she earned her M.D. in 1976, and later served her residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. [1] [6]

During AZT's controversial approval process in the United States as the first drug available to combat HIV/AIDS, many saw Fischl as the "face" of the drug and that of its manufacturer, Burroughs Wellcome, and she was the subject of criticism and scrutiny by AIDS activists who were deeply suspicious of the drug's effectiveness and toxicity. [3] [4] [7] However, AZT has since been added to the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines and is a component of many HIV/AIDS combination therapies today. [7] [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Margaret Fischl". 'Cane Talks. University of Miami . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  2. "Margaret Fischl, M.D." University of Miami Health Systems. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Fischl, Margaret (May 30, 2006). "Interview: Margaret Fischl". Frontline (Interview). PBS . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Burkett, Elinor (September 23, 1990). "THE QUEEN OF AZT: To Our Only Weapon Against AIDS, Margaret Fischl Owes Everything: Her Fame and Her Infamy". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on August 18, 2006.
  5. Walsh, Sara-Megan (December 20, 2020). "Watson Clinic doctor opens post-COVID clinic in Lakeland". The Ledger . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  6. "Dr. Margaret A. Fischl MD". U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Park, Alice (March 19, 2017). "The Story Behind the First AIDS Drug". Time . Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  8. Laing, Richard; Waning, Brenda; Gray, Andy; Ford, Nathan; Hoen, Ellen 't (2003). "25 years of the WHO essential medicines lists: progress and challenges". The Lancet . 361 (9370): 1723–1729. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13375-2. hdl: 10144/28005 . PMID   12767751. S2CID   12172286.