JAY LEVY - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 225047

JAY LEVY
The co-discoverer of the AIDS virus talks about the science - and the politics - of AIDS research.
Typescript signed: "Jay Levy", 1 page, 8½x11. Three-paragraph excerpt from U.S. News and World Report, originally dated June 17, 1991. In full: "AIDS turned my life topsy-turvy. I found out that scientists can't just stay in their labs; they have to be public figures. But that was extremely uncomfortable and still is. Peers say getting publicity is demeaning to a scientist. That's what I used to say. All of us were trained: Do your research, don't go after publicity. But if you don't talk, the public thinks you're not doing any work and then you don't get any money. The early days were frustrating. I was more concerned with keeping my lab afloat than with the excitement of getting this virus that proved to be the cause of AIDS. When Reagan was elected in 1980 all money in research was pulled back. I lost all my grants. Almost overnight I went from a lab of 15 people to myself, a part-time secretary, a part-time technician and a student. Now we are funded. But I think some researchers are turning away from AIDS research now. They see that lots of the obvious things to be done have already been done, that to go further is going to be a long, long process. The first steps could be made in leaps and bounds. We showed the virus was in the brain. People didn't want to believe this. We showed it was in the bowel. Now the questions are more complicated: How does the virus shut itself off in a host for a period of time? How does HIV kill a cell? We're down to the grind now, to the tough problems that will require new technology". Dr. Jay Levy, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus (1983), heads the Laboratory for Tumor and AIDS Virus Research at the University of California/San Francisco. He has devoted over a quarter century to the study of AIDS, editing the journal AIDS, while writing over 450 articles and authoring or editing 14 books. His HIV and the Pathogenesis of AIDS is in its third edition. Light surface creases. Slightly toned. Fine condition.