Mark Arnold Wainberg, (21 April 1945 – 11 April 2017) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

HIV/AIDS research HIV/AIDS research includes all medical research that attempts to prevent, treat, or cure HIV/AIDS, as well as fundamental research about the nature of HIV as an infectious agent and AIDS as the disease caused by HIV. Transmission A body of sc ...

er and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the Director of the

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

AIDS Centre at the

Montreal Jewish General Hospital The Jewish General Hospital (JGH; french: Hôpital général juif), known officially as the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital (french: Hôpital général juif Sir Mortimer B. Davis) since 1978, is an acute-care teaching hospital in M ...

and Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology at McGill University. His laboratory primarily studies HIV reverse transcriptase, the molecular basis for drug resistance, and gene therapy. He received a B.Sc. from McGill University in 1966, a Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1972, and did his post-doctoral research at Hadassah Medical School of the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Accomplishments and honors

Wainberg and his collaborators were the first to identify the antiviral capabilities of 3TC in 1989 and test the drug in patients. 3TC is also called

lamivudine Lamivudine, commonly called 3TC, is an antiretroviral medication used to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is also used to treat chronic hepatitis B when other options are not possible. It is effective against both HIV-1 and HIV-2. It is typicall ...

. From 1998 to 2000, Wainberg was President of the

International AIDS Society The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's largest association of HIV/AIDS professionals, with 11,600 members from over 170 countries , including clinicians, people living with HIV, service providers, policy makers and others. It aims to ...

. He was Co-Chair of the XVI International AIDS Conference and a past president of the Canadian Association for HIV Research. Wainberg founded the ''

Journal of the International AIDS Society The ''Journal of the International AIDS Society'' (JIAS) is an official open-access, peer-reviewed, medical journal of the International AIDS Society. Founded in 2004 by Mark Wainberg, the journal covers all aspects of research on HIV and AIDS. ...

'' in 2004, which he was still supporting as one of its three Editors-in-Chief. He was also an editor on publications including the '' Journal of Human Virology'', ''

Retrovirology A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. Once inside the host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase en ...

,'' ''

Journal of Leukocyte Biology The ''Journal of Leukocyte Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of immunology. The focus of the journal is on leukocyte physiology and leukocyte behavior within the immune system. Content is available for fre ...

'', '' International Antiviral News'', ''

AIDS Patient Care and STDs 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 m ...

'', ''

Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may als ...

'' and ''

AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses ''AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on HIV/AIDS research, as well as on human retroviruses and their related diseases. The journal was founded in 1983 as ''AIDS Research'', and acquired its curr ...

''. In 2001, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, Canada's highest civilian honour, for his "major contributions to the study and treatment of" HIV/AIDS. In 2005, he was made an Officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gove ...

, an order of merit bestowed by the government of the Province of Quebec. In 2000, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

. In 2008, Wainberg was named a Chevalier de

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, the highest honor given by the country of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In 2014, he was awarded the John G. Fitzgerald - CACMID Outstanding Microbiologist Award, which recognized him as "an individual who is outstanding in all aspects nd.. place him in a similar category to that of the individual the award is named after, Dr. John G. FitzGerald." In 2016, he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for his contributions to HIV/AIDS research. Wainberg was also a Past President of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem.

AIDS advocacy

Dr. Wainberg advocated giving AIDS-related relief to developing countries. He was critical of politicians who ignore the problem of AIDS, including former South African President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

. Dr. Wainberg also opposed the pseudoscientific ideas of

AIDS denialism HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while oth ...

that are responsible for an estimated 330,000 AIDS deaths in South Africa alone. In 2006, Dr. Wainberg was the Co-Chair of the XVI International AIDS Conference. In 2004, he was videotaped by AIDS denialist Robin Scovill, whose HIV-positive wife died in 2008 and whose daughter died of untested and untreated AIDS in 2005.A Mother's Denial, a Daughter's Death
Article from L.A. Times, September 24, 2005 In this interview, Dr. Wainberg proposed that those who harm others by publicly questioning HIV as the cause of AIDS should be charged with endangerment of public health and jailed if convicted of crime.

Death

Mark Wainberg drowned while on a vacation in Florida.CBC April 12, 2017
/ref> Some believe he had an asthma attack in the water, while others believe the undertow dragged him out. His funeral was held on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, the Montreal synagogue where he had previously served as president.

References

External links

New York Times obituary

Obituary
Paperman funeral home, Montreal
Researcher was 'a giant of HIV science'
André Picard, Globe and Mail, 22 April 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wainberg, Mark 1945 births 2017 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian biologists Canadian medical researchers Columbia University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada HIV/AIDS in Canada HIV/AIDS researchers Officers of the Order of Canada Officers of the National Order of Quebec Academic staff of McGill University McGill University alumni Jewish Canadian scientists Deaths by drowning in the United States Scientists from Montreal Accidental deaths in Florida