Medical community mourns loss of leading international HIV/AIDS researcher

International AIDS researcher Joep Lange. (Photo: Peter Lowie/Associated Press)

Stanford researchers specializing in HIV/AIDS mourned the loss Friday of Dutch scientist JOEP LANGE, a leading AIDS researcher who died in the Malaysia Airlines crash Thursday in the Ukraine. Lange, a virologist, was particularly well-known for his work in helping expand access to antiretroviral therapy in developing countries. He was among dozens of people on the ill-fated flight who were heading to the 20^th International AIDS Conference that opened Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.

“We are all in a state of shocked disbelief here in Melbourne at the tragic loss of one of the giants in the global fight against AIDS and HIV,” ANDREW ZOLOPA,  professor of medicine at Stanford, told RUTHANN RICHTER, director of media relations at the School of Medicine, in an e-mail from the conference site.  “I have known Joep Lange for more than 25 years – he was a friend and a colleague.  Joep was one of the early leaders in our field to push for expanded treatment around the globe – and in particular treatment for Africa and Asia… The world has lost a major figure who did so much good in his quiet but determined manner.  I am shocked by this senseless act of violence. What a terrible tragedy.”

DAVID KATZENSTEIN, also an HIV specialist at Stanford, learned of the death while in Zimbabwe, where he has a longstanding project on preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child. He said Lange, a friend and mentor, had been a “tireless advocate for better treatment for people living with HIV in resource-limited settings. He was universally respected and frequently honored as a real pioneer in early AIDS prevention and treatment.” In 2001, Lange founded the PharmAccess Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Amsterdam, which aims to improve access to HIV therapy in developing countries. He continued to direct the group until his death.

Lange served as president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004 and had been a consultant to the World Health Organization, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. He led several important clinical trials in Europe, Asia and Africa and played a key role in many NIH-sponsored studies, said Katzenstein, a professor of medicine.

“He was a gentle, thoughtful and caring physician-scientist with a keen sense of humor and a quick and gentle wit. He was constantly absorbing, teaching and thinking about the human (and primate) condition and psychology,” Katzenstein told Richter. “He was much loved and will be sorely missed.

Richter wrote the original post in the Medical School’s SCOPE blog.