RCMI International Symposium on Health Disparities
November 12-15, 2000
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Robert C. Gallo, M.D.

Dr. Gallo received a B.A. in Biology (Summa cum laude) in 1959 from Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island; and a M.D. in 1963 from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also served a Clinical Clerkship at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut in 1963. From 1963-1965, he completed his internship and residency in medicine at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1965 Dr. Gallo joined the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, where he held several positions in the National Cancer Institute until late 1995. From 1965-1968 he was a Clinical Associate in the Medicine Branch, from 1968-1969 he served as Senior Investigator in the Human Tumor Cell Biology Branch, from 1969-1972 he served as Head, Section on Cellular Control Mechanisms, Human Tumor Cell Biology Branch, and from 1972-1995 he served as Chief of the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology.

Dr. Gallo is universally recognized for his achievements in pioneering the field of human retrovirology. His accomplishments include, in the area of basic immunology, the discovery of interleukin-2; and in the area of human virology, the discovery, along with his coworkers, of the first human retrovirus called HTLV-1. This was also the first virus shown to cause leukemia in humans and among the first human cancer viruses, later shown to cause neurological diseases as well. Shortly after, he and his group discovered the second human retrovirus, HTLV-II. Gallo and coworkers made the independent discovery of the human immune deficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and provided the evidence that it causes AIDS; the development, with his coworkers, of the lifesaving HIV-I blood test; and soon after provided much of our early basic information on HIV biology. Dr. Gallo and his coworkers also found some specific oncogenes of human cancer; in 1986 discovered the first new human herpesvirus (HHV-6) in over 25 years; developed the first laboratory model systems for studies of the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma; and, with his colleagues, showed rationale for hydroxyurea use in therapy of HIV-infected people. During the last years, Dr. Gallo and his colleagues have discovered a new class of HIV inhibitors, the naturally occurring beta chemokines. This work has opened up new areas of human virology. Finally, he and his coworkers have discovered new therapeutic approaches to HIV, again by naturally occurring biological products; in this case, peptides derived from urine of women in early pregnancy. These peptides, which he has named maternin, kill tumor cells, inhibit HIV infection, promote hematopoiesis, and appear to be without toxic effects.

Dr. Gallo has been awarded 14 honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Sweden, Italy, Israel, Peru and Belgium. He is a member of numerous professional and honorary societies including the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine (Glasgow, Scotland), and the Royal Society of Medicine (Brussels, Belgium) among several others.

He has received numerous scientific honors and awards, to name a few: from the U.S.A.: uniquely, he has received the Albert Lasker Prize twice; first, the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1982) and later, the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Research (1986); the first Dameshek Award for research in hematology awarded by the American Society of Hematology; the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award for cancer research twice; the Dickson Award from the University of Pittsburgh; Meritorious and Distinguished Service and Superior Service Awards from the U.S. Public Health Service; Harvard University's Warren Alpert Award; the General Motors Prize for Cancer Research; the American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor; the Armand Hammer Prize for Cancer Research; two time recipient of the Ciba Geigy Drew Award; and the International Society for Blood Transfusion Award. Internationally, he has received numerous awards including the Japan Prize for Science and Technology; France's Griffuel Prize from the Association for Research on Cancer; India's Birla International Award; Canada's Gairdner Foundation Award; Israel's First Otto Herz Prize in Cancer Research and the Rabbi Shai Schacknai Memorial Prize; and several other awards from Italy, Scotland, Sweden, and Trinidad. Most recently, he received Germany's Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize.

Dr. Gallo was the most referenced scientist in the world between 1980 and 1990; is on the editorial board of numerous scientific journals; and is the author of more than 1100 scientific publications and the book Virus Hunting - AIDS, Cancer & the Human Retrovirus: A Story of Scientific Discovery,” published by Basic Books, New York, in 1991.

His major current scientific interests are the mechanisms of how HIV causes AIDS, developing better and safer therapy for HIV-infected people, helping to develop an effective preventive vaccine, and basic studies on the biology of human cancer cells, including the role of viruses in some human cancers.