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Robert
Gallo played a key role in identifying the cause and detection
of one of the most serious medical scourges of the 20th century.
Gallo, a veteran of years of research on cancer, helped determine
that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) caused the fatal condition
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, commonly called AIDS. Pursuing
research also done by French scientist Luc Montagnier, Gallo helped
develop a laboratory test to detect HIV; this test proved essential
to diagnose the syndrome and to protect the world's blood supply
from the growing threat of HIV contamination. Recognized as a
pioneering influence in the field of virology, Gallo's other contributions
include discoveries that led to diagnostic and therapeutic advances
in cancer and several other viral diseases.
Born
in Waterbury, Connecticut, Gallo earned a B.S. in biology from
Providence College in 1959. He earned his M.D. from Jefferson
Medical College in Philadelphia in 1963, then did an internship
and residency in medicine at the University of Chicago before
becoming a cancer researcher for the National Cancer Institute.
Among many other awards, Gallo is a two-time winner of the prestigious
Albert Lasker Award and was the most cited scientist of the decade
of the 1980s.
Frederick
Banting
Charles Best
Vannevar Bush
James Collip
Harry Wesley
Coover
Wallace
Coulter
Ray Dolby
Edith Flanigen
Robert Gallo
Ivan Getting
John Gibbon
Lloyd Augustus
Hall
Elias Howe
Charles D.
Kelman
Luc Montagnier
Bernard Oliver
Bradford
Parkinson
Norbert
Rillieux
John Roebling
Claude Shannon
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