In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report of June 6, 1981, Michael Gottlieb, MD, a young immunologist at the University of California at Los Angeles who had observed rare types of pneumonia, cancer, and other illnesses in a number of his gay male patients, became the first physician to describe what would eventually be called AIDS.
Now one of the preeminent AIDS physicians in the world, Gottlieb has since dedicated his career to AIDS treatment and research and was one of the first researchers to test the drug AZT. He has remained on the cutting edge of antiretroviral and immune-base therapies for HIV. Gottlieb is also founder, with Elizabeth Taylor, of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR).