Prominent Asian Pacific Americans

David Da-I Ho, M.D.
AIDS research pioneer

Dr. David Ho (b. November 3, 1952) has been a leader in the field of HIV/AIDS research for over a decade. The impact of his work on the viral dynamics of HIV changed the way HIV/AIDS is investigated and treated, and earned him Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" award in 1996.

In the early days of research, it was assumed that the HIV virus remained dormant for ten years before the outbreak of AIDS. Dr. Ho's work revealed that HIV is highly active from the moment of infection, replicating and mutating continuously. This discovery led to the replacement of single drug therapies with protease inhibitor and antiviral "cocktails."

Born in Taiwan, he moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of thirteen. In 1974, he graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a B.S. summa cum laude in physics. Switching to medical research, he earned his M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 1978. Dr. Ho currently serves as the scientific director and chief executive officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the largest private HIV/AIDS research center in the world.

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