Robert Gallo | |
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![]() Gallo in 1980 | |
Born | Robert Charles Gallo March 23, 1937 |
Education | Providence College (BS) Thomas Jefferson University (MD) |
Years active | 1963–present |
Known for | Co-discoverer of HIV |
Medical career | |
Profession | Medical doctor |
Institutions | National Cancer Institute |
Sub-specialties | Infectious disease and virology |
Research | Biomedical research |
Awards | Lasker Award (1982, 1986) Charles S. Mott Prize (1984) Dickson Prize (1985) Japan Prize (1988) Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1999) Dan David Prize (2009) |
Robert Charles Gallo (/ˈɡɑːloʊ/; born March 23, 1937) is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in establishing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in the development of the HIV blood test, and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.
Gallo is the director and co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, established in 1996 in a partnership including the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore. In November 2011, Gallo was named the first Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine. Gallo is also a co-founder of biotechnology company Profectus BioSciences, Inc. and co-founder and scientific director of the Global Virus Network (GVN).
Gallo was the most cited scientist in the world from 1980 to 1990, according to the Institute for Scientific Information, and he was ranked third in the world for scientific impact for the period 1983–2002.[1] He has published over 1,300 papers.[2]