The Serendipity of Life, Medicine, and Science

Abstract

Dr. Robert Schooley, a graduate of Washington and Lee University, obtained his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1974 and completed a residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1976. Subsequently, he became a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). While at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1976 until 1979, he studied viral pathogenesis and therapy, specifically cellular immunity in Epstein-Barr virus infection. He then completed a clinical and research fellowship in the Infectious Disease Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 1981. From 1981 until 1990, he was on staff as attending physician at the MGH. Dr. Schooley developed the novel concept of evaluating the cellular immune response to what later became known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in patients. In 1990, he was named head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Schooley has served on the AIDS Clinical Trials Group–first as Chairman for the Immune Based Therapy Working Group from 1989 to 1992, then as Chairman of the Core Immunology Committee from 1993 to 1995, and most recently as Chairman of the Executive Committee from 1995 to the present. In addition, he has served as chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in 1997 and on advisory committees for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR) and the National Hemophilia Foundation. Dr. Schooley has also served on the editorial boards of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Biotherapy, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, AIDS, and Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology. Dr. Schooley has been awarded the New Investigator Award at NIAID as well as the John Enders Memorial Lectureship by the IDSA in 1991. In 1999, he was awarded the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Award for his remarkable scientific work. In addition, he was named among the Best Doctors in America from 1995 to 1999.