Time magazine has named Gladstone Senior Investigator Robert Grant, MD, MPH, a UCSF professor of medicine, to the 2012 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
“Dr. Grant changed the way AIDS researchers think about preventing HIV transmission,” Kenneth Cole, board chairman at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, wrote in Time. “He and his team showed that gay, HIV-negative men could radically lower their risk of contracting HIV from their sexual partners by taking a combination antiretroviral drug already used to treat people living with the virus. Later studies showed that this technique could work to prevent HIV transmission among heterosexual men and women too.
“This not only saves lives but provides a model that could one day halt new infections everywhere,” continued Cole, who is also the founder of Kenneth Cole Productions. “We are in debt to Dr. Grant ... When the history of the AIDS epidemic is written, I hope there will be a chapter on Dr. Robert Grant.”
Grant led the groundbreaking and global study, referred to as IPrEx, which showed how existing HIV/AIDS medications could effectively be used to prevent transmission of HIV in those likely to be exposed to the virus. The study, funded by independent grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is seen as a promising step towards the goal of stemming the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“It’s an honor to be named to the TIME 100 list,” said Grant. “The devastating impact of HIV continues to spread around the world despite access to treatment, care and support. It’s imperative that we continue to research new ways to prevent HIV infection.”
The list, now in its ninth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.