Posted on July 21, 2014
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research
On behalf of the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, we would like to express our dismay and grief at the downing of Malaysian Air flight 17 with the appalling loss of 298 innocent lives. We are particularly distressed by the deaths of Professor Joep Lange, Jacquelyn van Tongeren, Glenn Thomas, Lucie van Mens, Martine de Schutter, and Pim de Kuijer, all of whom were en route to the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne.
Professor Lange was a friend, colleague and collaborator to many Johns Hopkins HIV researchers, and his contributions to the clinical science of HIV care and to increasing access to care in resource-limited areas are legendary. As a former President of the International AIDS Society he led global efforts to expand the provision of effective care for HIV to those who suffered from the disease in Africa, Asia and Latin America. His relentless and innovative efforts to confront the HIV epidemic served as an inspiration to all. The untimely and utterly needless death of Professor Lange and our other colleagues is a terrible blow to the international HIV community.
There is no replacing those who have been lost. We can only commit to continue their and our work to end the AIDS epidemic – that is the most fitting tribute we can pay them.
Richard E. Chaisson, MD Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH
