This Committee of 100 Conversations – “Recollections, Pioneers and Heroes” event featured Committee of 100 member Dr. David Ho, who talked about “The Art and Science of Innovative Life Science Discovery.”

Dr. David Ho, pioneering AIDS research scientist, is a Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and the Founding Scientific Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, whose elegant studies unraveled the dynamic nature of HIV replication in vivo and revolutionized our basic understanding of this horrific disease. This knowledge led him to champion combination antiretroviral therapy, which resulted in unprecedented control of HIV in patients. He will cover highlights and turning points in his career, his view of the factors that led to the innovations he pioneered, and the joys and challenges of scientific research in this country. He has received many awards, including Time Magazine Man of the Year.

Peter Young, Chair of the Conversations Initiative and Committee of 100 New York Regional Chair and Board Member, moderated this conversation.

David Ho
Founding Scientific Director
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center

David D. Ho is the Founding Scientific Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He received his degrees from California Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. Ho has been at the forefront of AIDS research for 40 years. His elegant studies unraveled the dynamic nature of HIV replication in vivo and revolutionized our basic understanding of this horrific disease. This knowledge led him to champion combination antiretroviral therapy that resulted in unprecedented control of HIV in patients. An automatic death sentence has been transformed into a manageable condition, and over 25 million people worldwide are currently on such a therapy. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ho’s research team has devoted considerable efforts to develop novel strategies to diagnose, treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Ho has received fourteen honorary doctorates. He was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1996 and the recipient of a Presidential Medal from Bill Clinton in 2001. He was also inducted into the California Hall of Fame. Ho was also recognized by the Kingdom of Thailand with the Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine, and he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award by Caltech. Ho serves as a member of the Trustees of Caltech, and he was a board member of the MIT Corporation for 12 years and Harvard Board of Overseers for 6 years. He is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine as well as the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Peter Young
CEO and President of Young & Partners;
Committee of 100 New York Regional Chair and Board Member

Peter Young is CEO of Young & Partners, a boutique investment banking firm focused on the life science and chemical industries. He manages the firm and is actively involved in client transactions and financings. Under his leadership, Young & Partners has established and maintained its position as a highly regarded firm serving the corporate strategy, M&A, restructuring and financing needs of clients worldwide. He was previously head of industry groups at Salomon Brothers, Schroders and Lehman Brothers, a senior private equity executive with J.H. Whitney & Co. and a senior member of Bain & Co., the corporate strategy firm.

Young received a BA in Economics from Yale, an MS in Accounting from NYU, and MBA from Harvard Business School where he graduated with Distinction as a Baker Scholar. He is a CPA and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. He serves on a number of boards of directors, both corporate and non-profit and is a board member of Société de Chimie Industrielle, a leading life science and chemical industry non-profit organization and on the Editorial Advisory Board of Pharmaceutical Executive.