30 Years After the Discovery of AIDS

Thirty years ago this week, Dr. Michael Gottlieb identified a new disease in a paper he wrote for the CDC. Characterized by a severely damaged immune system, and primarily afflicting gay men, the syndrome would come to be known as AIDS. In the years since, over sixty million people –  of both genders and all sexual orientations –  have died of AIDS. Antiretrovirals have been developed, however there is still no cure. Dr. Gottlieb, for his part, has continued to research and teach medicine, as well as treat hundreds of patients living with AIDS, including Rock Hudson. Today, he he’s an associate clinical professor of medicine at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.