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Dr. James Goedert, M.D.
Dr. James Goedert came to NIH in 1980 as a medical staff fellow
in the Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the NCI to work in cancer
epidemiology. Through a family connection, in 1981 he became involved
in the diagnosis and treatment of what was then an unusual case of a
young man with Kaposi's sarcoma and this changed his career. His
early work related to AIDS for NIH was an investigation of immune
system abnormalities in the gay community in New York City.
What was a pilot study turned into a long-term project analyzing
what factors determine how and when those infected with HIV develop
AIDS. This research continued through 1999.
Initially leaning towards environmental causes of AIDS, such
as amyl nitrite use, Dr. Goedert recognized clearly the infectious nature
of the syndrome when the early cases in hemophiliacs were reported in 1982.
He quickly developed a research project in collaboration with Dr. Elaine
Eyster at Pennsylvania State University in Hershey to investigate the
scope of the problem and the sources of the infection. This research
also turned into an NIH supported long-term multi-center study of
hemophiliacs with AIDS in the United States and Europe.
A particular research interest of Dr. Goedert's has been the study of
twins that are born to HIV-infected mothers in order to determine when
infection in the children occurs. Again, a small initial study became a
worldwide investigation of over 200 pairs of twins. For this work, Dr.
Goedert received the PHS Outstanding Service Medal and the International
AIDS Society 1992 International Life Prize.
Dr. Goedert is now the Chief of the Viral Epidemiology Branch
of the National Cancer Institute and continues to work on how AIDS
and other virus infections cause cancer
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James Goedert, M.D. |
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