Mark A. Wainberg, PhD, was a pioneer in HIV research who was passionate not only about the science of the virus but also about the human and social costs of the pandemic.
Wainberg, 71, died Tuesday after swimming in rough water near Bal Harbour, Fla.
Working at Canada's McGill University in the late 1980s, Wainberg and collaborators helped to develop one of the earliest effective anti-HIV drugs, the nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor 3TC (lamivudine), which is still widely used today.
Later his attention turned to the mechanisms of resistance to HIV drugs, where he was also regarded as a leading scientific figure, and more recently he and co-workers have been focusing on the resurgent science of HIV cure.
But while friends and colleagues celebrated his scientific achievements, they said it was his social conscience and commitment to justice that made him a leading figure in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
"He was one of the few basic scientists who truly worked for the implementation of scientific discovery, not just to the bedside but also to the high-level policy level," according to Julio Montaner, MD, of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver.
"He surely could speak truth to power," Montaner told MedPage Today. "We have lost a giant in the fight against HIV/AIDS, in Canada and the world."
As president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) from 1988 through 2000, Wainberg was the architect of the 2000 AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, that shifted the focus of anti-HIV efforts to the developing world, which bore -- and still bears -- the brunt of the pandemic.
"Mark was an early proponent of holding scientific meetings where the epidemic was most severe, often in the developing world, a practice which is now usual," said Wendy Armstrong, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and chair of the HIV Medicine Association.
That Durban AIDS conference took place at a time when fewer than 7,000 people in Africa had access to the life-saving antiretroviral drugs and in the face of a wave of "denialism" that HIV was the cause of AIDS.
Wainberg pushed for the South African location in the hope that the conference would shine a light on the inequitable access to the medications and would put an end to the propaganda of the denialists.
When the International AIDS Conference was held again in Durban last year, it was clear that much had changed. On the bus in from the airport at the start of the conference, Wainberg told a MedPage Today reporter that he was proud of the momentum for equity started by the earlier meeting.
Indeed, about half of the 36.7 million people around the world who need antiretroviral drugs are now able to get them, a far cry from the situation in 2000. But, characteristically, Wainberg focused on the shortfall, noting that many people still die of the virus needlessly, victims in many cases of stigma and prejudice.
"His dual commitment to science and social justice will continue to be a motivating force and an inspiration to the global HIV community," Armstrong told MedPage Today. "He will be sorely missed."
"We have lost one of our fiercest champions," said IAS President Linda-Gail Bekker. "To those of us in the research community, he was the epitome of dedication from the earliest days of the response."
"The impact of his work both through and beyond his role with the IAS will live on through the millions of people accessing HIV treatment and those of us who were lucky enough to know him," she said in a statement issued by the IAS.
Wainberg was honored many times: He was a member of the Order of Canada, the National Order of Quebec, France's Légion d'Honneur, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an inductee to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
But he was not content to sit on his laurels, commented Chris Beyrer, MD, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the current past-president of the IAS.
"He was continuing to make an essential contribution as Editor in Chief of the Journal of the IAS, which under his outstanding and energetic leadership had rapidly risen into a top journal in the field," Beyrer said.
"Mark was frank, outspoken, tart in his observations, but motivated by real compassion and an abiding commitment to ending the HIV pandemic," he added.
That compassion and commitment made Wainberg "a truly inspirational leader in the battle against the HIV epidemic," said Paul Volberding, MD, of the University of California San Francisco.
"He is of course known for his science (in) co-discovering a vitally important drug, 3TC, and for his leading research in HIV drug resistance," Volberding said. "But Mark was also deeply committed to the international response ... a strong and effective advocate of human rights in addressing the epidemic."
"Mark had innumerable friends who will miss him and we all feel so sorry for his family in this tragic loss," Volberding said.
In addition to his research and advocacy work, Wainberg also served as a reviewer for MedPage Today's HIV/AIDS resource centers.
Police in Bal Harbour, a suburb of Miami, told reporters they responded to a 911 call on Tuesday after Wainberg was pulled from the water. The department did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the cause of death.