Chennai: Founding Director of YRG CARE and a board member of India HIV/AIDS Alliance Dr. Suniti Solomon passed away at her residence here on Tuesday.
Dr. Solomon’s experience covered a wide range of areas related to HIV/AIDS, from the biomedical to the socio-economic. She documented the first evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986 and brought much needed attention to the emerging epidemic.
She set up the first voluntary testing and counselling centre while serving as a professor of microbiology at the Madras Medical College and Government General Hospital.
She was a member of the National Technical Team on Women and AIDS and served on numerous national and international committees on AIDS.
She was also the Principal Investigator of several pioneering HIV research studies.
Dr Solomon served as the president of the AIDS Society of India and published extensively on HIV epidemiology, prevention, care and support, biomedical research, research ethics and gender issues.
Executive Director of Alliance India, James Robertson, said that Dr. Solomon will be missed at a time when India’s HIV response needs her wisdom and guidance.
“Dr Solomon stepped up to the challenge of HIV/AIDS long before it was fashionable. Her leadership had a transformative effect on the response to the epidemic in India and around the world. The impact of her work was profound, and her voiced will be sorely missed at a time when India’s HIV response needs her wisdom and guidance,” he said.(ANI)