Commencement
May 21, 2005
Dixon Hall, Uptown Campus

Deans Pierre Buekkens, Paul Whelton and Ian Taylor pose with honorary degree recipient and guest speaker, David Ho

Guest Speaker: David D. Ho, M.D., Scientific director and CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and Irene Diamond Professor at the Rockefeller University.

David Ho has been deeply involved in AIDS research for the past twenty years, and has published over 300 papers on the subject. Among all of his contributions leading to a clearer understanding of the virus, he is perhaps most celebrated for elucidating the nature of HIV replication in infected persons. This understanding led Ho and his coworkers to champion combination antiretroviral therapy, a therapy which has resulted in dramatic AIDS-associated mortality in developing countries since 1996.

In addition to their work developing a vaccine to halt the spread of the AIDS epidemic, Ho and his coworkers continue to pursue therapeutuic studies to eradicate the HIV virus.

Ho was TIME Magazine's Man of the Year in 1996, and was a recipient of the US Presidential Medal in 2001. In addition, Ho was awarded and honorary Doctor of Science degree from Tulane University at this year's commencement ceremony.