My Dad and HIV/AIDs research

I’m not quite sure what transpired that lead my Dad to focus on immunology. By the early 1970s he was running a clinical immunology laboratory in a hospital in upstate New York. He attended conferences in his fields, both immunology and microbiology and kept up with his journal reading. As such, he read much of the early research in HIV/AIDs, and probably kept up with this reading at least until a couple of years before he passed. As far as I know, he did not do any HIV/AIDs research but several of his friends did.

Over the years my Dad and I had several occasions to talk about HIV/AIDs, both from the perspective of the research being done at that time and other writings from his immunology journals, and from the point of view of seeing so many fine young people die of AIDs.

I recall one of his last visits with us in New Jersey in June of 1990. It was the weekend of the annual gay pride parade in New York City. We took a train into the city to watch the first hour of the parade before going out for lunch. Our perch was somewhere near 23rd street in the boro of Manhattan (NYC). We got there in time to see the beginning of the parade. Among the early marchers was a rather large contingent of HIV/AIDs groups. Dad was very moved by seeing both the AIDs activist groups as well as all those living with HIV/AIDs. Remember that this was before the widespread use of the various drug cocktails used by those living with HIV/AIDs in the U.S. and other developed countries.

A couple of years later, my dear Dad was dead from complications resulting from a neurological disease.

When I first became acquainted with the Global Aids Interfaith Alliance , I knew that Dad would want to be very involved with GAIA if he were alive. If he were able, he would want to go on one of their trips to Malawi to visit various medical facilities working with HIV/AIDs patients and orphanages with children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDs. I’d like to think that my Dad is one of GAIA’s special angels.