VOLUME 12, NUMBER 19 • APRIL 6, 2001

Diamond Center to Celebrate 10th Anniversary

The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the largest private HIV/AIDS research center in the world, celebrates its 10th anniversary on April 17 with a special symposium entitled "AIDS Research: Progress and Promise." Since 1996, the center, led by Rockefeller University Professor David Ho, has been an integral component of the university’s clinical research program.

The one-day symposium starts at 9 a.m. in Caspary Auditorium, and includes presentations by Ho and his colleagues Michael Louie, Leonidas Stamatatos, Sarah Tuttleton Arron, Janet Harouse, Mark Muesing, and Paul Beiniasz from the Diamond Center. Invited speakers Don Wiley, Norman Letvin and Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard University and Bette Korber of Los Alamos National Laboratory also will give lectures during the event. Registration and coffee begin at 8:00, and there will be a lunch break at 12 p.m.

Ho and his colleagues investigate the infection process of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. The Diamond Center’s research has helped demonstrate the rapid rate of HIV replication in the body, a finding that has been used as the foundation for new treatment strategies. A study headed by Ho and conducted at the Rockefeller University Hospital led to the design of the so-called AIDS "cocktail" of therapeutic drugs that has significantly reduced the death rate from AIDS in the United States.

Ho received the Presidential Citizen’s Award in January from President Bill Clinton in a ceremony at The White House. He was among 28 recipients of that honor, recognized for "remarkable service and accomplishments" that "inspire others to do the same." Ho’s other awards include the Hoechst Roussel Award in 1999 for outstanding accomplishment in basic research, or the development, clinical use, or action of antimicrobial agents, as well as the Ernst Young Prize in Medicine. In 1996, Ho was selected as Time magazine’s "Man of the Year."

A native of Taiwan, Ho attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1974 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1978. His early professional affiliations include the University of California at Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, and New York University. He became scientific director of the Diamond Center in 1989, playing a key role in the design of the laboratory; he now also serves as CEO of the center.

The Aaron Diamond Foundation provided $11 million to create an independent nonprofit HIV/AIDS research corporation in 1989, and, in collaboration with several New York City institutions, opened the center in 1991.

In June 1996, the Diamond Center became affiliated with Rockefeller University and Ho was appointed to a Rockefeller professorship. In addition to support from the Aaron Diamond Foundation and its successor, the Irene Diamond Fund, Inc., the Diamond Center has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) and other sources.