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Tenth Annual Alpert Foundation Prize Honors HIV Discoverers Gallo and Montagnier Boston Native Bestows $100,000 Award at April 30 Ceremony
BOSTON--April 30, 1998---Dr. Robert Gallo, of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and Dr. Luc Montagnier, of Queens College, Flushing, N.Y., and Pasteur Institute, Paris, who discovered and isolated HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are the winners of the Tenth Annual Warren Alpert Foundation Prize.
The pair received the $100,000 award at a reception in their honor today, April 30, at the Four Seasons Hotel, Boston. The luncheon featured introductory remarks by former United States Senator Bill Bradley, as well as comments by Alpert Prize Scientific Advisory Committee Chair Dr. Joseph B. Martin, dean of Harvard Medical School, and Warren Alpert, philanthropist, businessman, and sole benefactor of the Warren Alpert Foundation.
The Foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee--comprised of experts from Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology--chose Gallo and Montagnier because of the widespread and rapid impact of their research findings. Each year, the Committee recognizes creative research that has dramatically impacted the human condition.
The Impact of the Research -- Knowing the cause of AIDS had almost immediate worldwide implications on the health and well-being of both those infected with the virus and those not infected. The rapid development of a test to determine whether an individual was infected allowed blood banks to screen donors and almost completely eliminate a major source of infections. It also allowed those at high risk for infection to be tested, calming many who had lived for years with anxiety, and enabling those infected to monitor their health more aggressively.
Detailed knowledge of HIV resulted from the ability to grow it in the lab, a complex task perfected by this year's Alpert Prize winners. This knowledge has led to the creation of multiple drug therapies that now allow many who are infected to live for years with few symptoms. By understanding the virus, scientists have been able to find drugs that act on different parts of its life cycle and prevent it from replicating. This multi-front attack has proven essential because the virus can quickly mutate and evade any one strategy. --more--
Gallo and Montagnier -- Gallo, internationally recognized for his achievements in retrovirology, is director of the University of Maryland at Baltimore's Institute of Human Virology as well as head of the Tumor Biology Program within its Cancer Center. Gallo's research has focused on the biology of blood cells and their disorders linked to viruses, especially AIDS and leukemia. In 1984, he and his colleagues grew HIV and developed a test that could detect the presence of HIV in blood. Gallo has received nearly 100 honors and has authored, or co-authored, more than 1,000 publications. From 1965-95 he held several positions at the National Cancer Institute, including chief of the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology from 1972-95.
Montagnier is director of the Bernard and Gloria Salick Center for Molecular and Cellular Biology at Queens College, president of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, Paris, and professor at the Pasteur Institute. Montagnier and his Pasteur Institute colleagues discovered HIV-1 in 1983 and HIV-2 in 1985. His most recent research efforts have focused on identifying infectious cofactors of HIV. Montagnier, who earned a medical degree from Paris University and a Diplome d'Etudes Superieures Sciences Naturelles from Pontiers, France, has received more than 20 major awards, including the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur. He has authored, or co-authored, more than 350 publications, including the 1994 book Of Viruses and Men , to be published in English later this year. Since 1972, he has held several positions at the Pasteur Institute, including head of both the Viral Oncology Unit and the Department of AIDS and Retroviruses.
Warren Alpert Foundation Prize -- Chelsea, Massachusetts native Warren Alpert, chairman of Warren Equities, established the Alpert Prize in 1987 after reading an article about University of Edinburgh's Kenneth Murray, who developed a vaccine for hepatitis B. Alpert decided he would like to reward such far-reaching breakthroughs, called Murray to tell him he had won a prize, then set about creating the Foundation. To choose subsequent recipients, he asked Dr. Daniel Tosteson, then dean of Harvard Medical School, to convene a panel of experts to select and honor renowned scientists from around the world.
In 1950, Warren Alpert, a first generation American, started his business with, as he tells it, "$1,000 and a used car." Today Warren Equities and its subsidiaries--which market petroleum, food and spirits, and engage in transportation and real estate investments--generate approximately $900 million in annual volume and have more than 2,100 employees in 11 states. Forbes listed Warren Equities number 225 on its most recent list of the nation's largest privately held companies. Alpert is Warren Equities' sole owner and the Foundation's sole benefactor.
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