David Ho
Encyclopedia
David Da-i Ho is a Taiwanese American AIDS
researcher famous for pioneering the use of protease
inhibitors in treating HIV
-infected patients with his team. He is the scientific director and chief executive officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
and the Irene Diamond Professor at the Rockefeller University
in New York
.
, Taiwan
, Republic of China
to Paul (an engineer) and Sonia Ho, from Jiangxi
Province who fled to Taiwan from the Mainland in 1949, David Ho immigrated
at the age of twelve to the United States
with his mother and younger brother to unite with his father, who had already been in the US for nine years. He grew up in Los Angeles
and received his bachelor of science
in physics with highest honors from the California Institute of Technology
(1974) and MD
from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
(1978). Subsequently, he did his clinical training in internal medicine
and infectious diseases at UCLA School of Medicine (1978–1982) and Massachusetts General Hospital
(1982–1985), respectively. He was a resident in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles in 1981 when he came into contact with some of the first reported cases of what was later identified as AIDS.
Living in Chappaqua, New York
, Ho is married to artist Susan Kuo, with whom he has three children: Kathryn, Jonathan, and Jaclyn. He is a member of the Committee of 100
, a Taiwanese American leadership organization, in addition to several scientific groups.
Ho shifted his work from treating late in the illness to finding ways to fight the disease early on. Ho helped devise the HAART
or highly active anti-retroviral therapy, which prescribes a cocktail of drugs to treat AIDS, on the theory that it would be more effective to combine powerful protease inhibitors
with other HIV medications.
Ho’s research team is now working on developing vaccines for AIDS. He heads a consortium of organization in China and the U.S. to address the crisis of HIV/AIDS in China. In a June 13, 2011 interview with Asian Scientist Magazine
, he discusses his team's progress with Ibalizumab, the antibody his team is developing for HIV vaccination with support from the Gates Foundation.
in Medicine, Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science & Technology, the Squibb Award, and the Hoechst Marion Roussel Award. On January 8, 2001, Ho was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal
by President Clinton
.
Ho is an honorary professor at Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Wuhan University, and Fudan University. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology. He is a board member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.
Ho was Time magazine
's 1996 Man of the Year. Time later recalled the selection surprised both Ho and readers, with one reader calling Ho "Dr. David Who?" The magazine acknowledged in 1996 that "Ho is not, to be sure, a household name. But some people make headlines while others make history." Ho was even briefly mentioned when Alexander Fleming
was considered for Person of the Century in 1999, since Fleming could be portrayed as representative of other disease-fighting scientists including Ho, but the title ultimately went to Albert Einstein
.
Ho has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, Academia Sinica
, and the Institute of Medicine
of the National Academy
.
On 2006-12-06, California governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger
and First Lady Maria Shriver
inducted Ho into the California Hall of Fame
located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
researcher famous for pioneering the use of protease
Protease
A protease is any enzyme that conducts proteolysis, that is, begins protein catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain forming the protein....
inhibitors in treating HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-infected patients with his team. He is the scientific director and chief executive officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, often abbreviated as ADARC, is a medical research institution dedicated to finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. It is headed by prominent scientist Dr...
and the Irene Diamond Professor at the Rockefeller University
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Background
Born in TaichungTaichung
-Demographics:Taichung’s population was an estimated 1,040,725 in August 2006. There are slightly more females in the city than males.24.32% of residents are children, while 16.63% are young people, 52.68% are middle-age, and 6.73% are elderly....
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
to Paul (an engineer) and Sonia Ho, from Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
Province who fled to Taiwan from the Mainland in 1949, David Ho immigrated
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
at the age of twelve to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his mother and younger brother to unite with his father, who had already been in the US for nine years. He grew up in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and received his bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in physics with highest honors from the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(1974) and MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Founded in 1970, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, or HST, is one of the oldest and largest biomedical engineering and physician-scientist training programs in the United States and the longest-standing functional collaboration between Harvard University and the...
(1978). Subsequently, he did his clinical training in internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
and infectious diseases at UCLA School of Medicine (1978–1982) and Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
(1982–1985), respectively. He was a resident in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in Los Angeles in 1981 when he came into contact with some of the first reported cases of what was later identified as AIDS.
Living in Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in northern Westchester County, New York. As of the 2010 census, following a major revision to the delineation of its boundaries by the Census Bureau, the population was 1,436...
, Ho is married to artist Susan Kuo, with whom he has three children: Kathryn, Jonathan, and Jaclyn. He is a member of the Committee of 100
Committee of 100 (United States)
The Committee of 100 is a group of prominent Chinese Americans with the mission to "pool their strengths and experience to address important issues concerning the Chinese American community, as well as issues affecting Sino-American relations." It was founded in 1990.The declared key functions of...
, a Taiwanese American leadership organization, in addition to several scientific groups.
Research
Ho has been at the forefront of AIDS research for three decades now. He published over 400 papers (cited June 2011), enabling the scientific community to understand the mechanism of HIV replication. He championed the combination anti-retroviral therapy which allowed the control of HIV replication in patients. AIDS mortality has declined six times in developed countries since 1996, and international efforts are under way to bring the treatment to patients in the developing world.Ho shifted his work from treating late in the illness to finding ways to fight the disease early on. Ho helped devise the HAART
Antiretroviral drug
Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART...
or highly active anti-retroviral therapy, which prescribes a cocktail of drugs to treat AIDS, on the theory that it would be more effective to combine powerful protease inhibitors
Protease inhibitor (pharmacology)
Protease inhibitors are a class of drugs used to treat or prevent infection by viruses, including HIV and Hepatitis C. PIs prevent viral replication by inhibiting the activity of proteases, e.g.HIV-1 protease, enzymes used by the viruses to cleave nascent proteins for final assembly of new...
with other HIV medications.
Ho’s research team is now working on developing vaccines for AIDS. He heads a consortium of organization in China and the U.S. to address the crisis of HIV/AIDS in China. In a June 13, 2011 interview with Asian Scientist Magazine
Asian Scientist Magazine
Asian Scientist Magazine is a science & technology magazine that was launched as an MIT alumni start-up in March 2011 by the company, Asian Scientist LLP....
, he discusses his team's progress with Ibalizumab, the antibody his team is developing for HIV vaccination with support from the Gates Foundation.
Honors and titles
Ho has received numerous honors and awards for his scientific accomplishments. He is the recipient of 12 honorary doctorates, including from Swarthmore, Tufts, Columbia, Tulane, University of Natal, and Tsinghua University. He has been chosen as the commencement speaker at Caltech, MIT, and Harvard School of Public Health. Other accolades include the Ernst Jung PrizeErnst Jung Prize
The Ernst Jung Prize is a prize awarded annually for excellence in biomedical sciences. The Ernst Jung Foundation, funded by Hamburg merchant Ernst Jung in 1967 grants the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine, now € 300,000, since 1976 and the lifetime achievement Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine since...
in Medicine, Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science & Technology, the Squibb Award, and the Hoechst Marion Roussel Award. On January 8, 2001, Ho was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal
Presidential Citizens Medal
The Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest civilian award in the United States, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded by the President of the United States, and may be given posthumously....
by President Clinton
William Clinton
Bill Clinton is the 42nd President of the United States. William Clinton may also refer to:*William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon , English nobleman from prominent Norman family dating to William the Conqueror; Lord High Admiral as of 1333*William Henry Clinton , British general from...
.
Ho is an honorary professor at Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Wuhan University, and Fudan University. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology. He is a board member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.
Ho was Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's 1996 Man of the Year. Time later recalled the selection surprised both Ho and readers, with one reader calling Ho "Dr. David Who?" The magazine acknowledged in 1996 that "Ho is not, to be sure, a household name. But some people make headlines while others make history." Ho was even briefly mentioned when Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
was considered for Person of the Century in 1999, since Fleming could be portrayed as representative of other disease-fighting scientists including Ho, but the title ultimately went to Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
.
Ho has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica
The Academia Sinica , headquartered in the Nangang District of Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. It supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from mathematical and physical sciences, to life sciences, and to humanities and social sciences.Academia Sinica has...
, and the Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
of the National Academy
National academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanities. Typically the country's learned societies in...
.
On 2006-12-06, California governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and First Lady Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
inducted Ho into the California Hall of Fame
California Hall of Fame
Conceived by First Lady Maria Shriver, the California Hall of Fame was established at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts to honor individuals and families who embody California’s innovative spirit and have made their mark on history...
located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.