Dr. Deborah Persaud, Dr. Hannah Gay and Dr. Katherina Luzuriaga, the miracle workers
The work of these three doctors—a pediatrician at the University of Mississippi, an immunologist from U. Mass and a virologist from Johns Hopkins—broke a major scientific barrier in 2013: creating the first non-invasive “functional cure” for HIV. An American baby girl who contracted the virus from her mother received only commonly available antiretroviral drugs—but in newly identified doses and begun less than 30 hours after her birth, even before her HIV-positive bloodwork had returned from the lab. The results: now two and a half the child no longer needs medication and shows no signs of HIV.