Alexander F. Voevodin (russian: Александр Феликсович Воеводин; born 13 May 1949) M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc.,

FRCPath The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to pr ...

is Russian-born

biomedical scientist A biomedical scientist is a scientist trained in biology, particularly in the context of medical laboratory sciences or laboratory medicine. These scientists work to gain knowledge on the main principles of how the human body works and to find new w ...

and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He is considered one of the leading early pioneers of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

research. As Head of the AIDS Control Center of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in the early 1990s, Voevodin advocated for targeted voluntary testing among high risk groups, pushing back on the then-standard practice of mandatory testing. He is currently a private biomedical consultant (Vir&Gen, Toronto, Canada).

Early life

Voevodin was born on May 13, 1949, in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

in what was then the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In his high school years he was successful in sport, but later, during his undergraduate studies, his focus changed from sports to science. After graduating high school in 1966, Voevodin entered medical school (currently Dnepropetrovsk Medical Academy, Ukraine). In 1972 he graduated as M.D. and was recruited by the

USSR Academy of Medical Sciences The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (russian: Акаде́мия медици́нских нау́к СССР) was the highest scientific and medical organization founded in the Soviet Union founded in 1944. Its successor is the Russian Academy of ...

. He did his postgraduate studies in the research institutes of the academy in Moscow and

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

. In 1977, Voevodin defended his Ph.D. thesis "Antigenic characterization of primate oncogenic viruses" at the Ivanovsky Virology Institute, Moscow. His mentor was Prof. Boris Lapin (russian: Борис Аркадьевич Лапин).

Academic career

In the late 1970s-80s, Voevodin worked at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy of the

, Sukhumi. His research focused on the oncogenic viruses, mostly of non-human primates. In 1984 he defended his D.Sc. dissertation "Immunology of Primate Oncogenic Viruses" at the Herzen Oncology Institute, Moscow. While being Head of AIDS Control Center of Russian Federation in the early 1990s he advocated targeted voluntary testing of high risk groups as opposed to universal mandatory screening. After collapse of the USSR, Voevodin worked at the Karolinska Hospital/Institute, Sweden. In 1993 he joined the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine. Working there he published a number of papers in research journals, most notably on the identification of the Middle Eastern lineage of human retrovirus HTLV-1, genetic resistance to HIV/AIDS and interspecies transmission of retroviruses in non-human primates. The latter contributed to establishing the origin of HIV-1. In 1999 the

Royal College of Pathologists The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to pr ...

, London, UK awarded Voevodin a title of Fellow (

) by virtue of his published research. In 2004 A. Voevodin moved to Canada where, together with Prof. Preston Marx of

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

, New Orleans, USA, wrote "Simian Virology",Voevodin A.F. & Marx P.A. Simian Virology, Wiley-Blackwell (2009) http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-081382432X.html an encyclopedia of monkey and ape viruses and non-human

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

models of human viral diseases.

Honours and awards

* All-USSR Prize for Young Scientists in Medicine (1980) * USSR Academy of Medical Sciences the Best Research in Infectious Immunology – Timakov Prize (1983)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voevodin, Alexander 1949 births Living people Academicians of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Ukrainian emigrants to Canada Ukrainian pathologists Soviet pathologists Academic staff of the Karolinska Institute HIV/AIDS researchers Soviet virologists