Dr. Robert C. Gallo receives Severo Ochoa Award

“Dr. Robert C. Gallo, is firmly following in the footsteps of Severo Ocha, the first Hispanic American to win a Nobel Prize in medicine. Dr. Gallo is founder and director of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) and recently received the Severo Ochoa Award, which is given to a distinguished scientist who is dedicated to eradicating HIV/AIDS in minority communities. He was honored at the third annual National Minority Health Month Foundation leadership awards luncheon in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Gallo has dedicated himself to eliminating HIV/AIDS. It was Dr. Gallo who pioneered the field of human retrovirology in 1980 by discovering the first human retrovirus (HTLV-1) and showing it to cause a particular form of human leukemia. A year later, Gallo and his research team discovered the second known human retrovirus (HTLV-2), which was followed by the landmark discovery of HIV. Gallo and his team provided the first results to show that HIV was the cause of AIDS and developed the HIV blood test that saves many lives today. “

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