Dr. Jean Pape (left, holding award certificate) with Dr. Warren Johnson Jr., the B.H. Kean Professor of Tropical Medicine and chief of the Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell.
Dr. Jean Pape, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell and a graduate of the Medical College (1975), has been honored by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan at a special ceremony in the General Assembly Hall. Noting that he was "honoring heroes whose actions and courage make the world a better place," Mr. Annan praised Dr. Pape's "achievements, courage and inspiration in contributing to breaking the silence on HIV/AIDS."
Dr. Pape, who is also a professor at the State University of Haiti, has worked in his native Haiti since the onset of the AIDS epidemic in 1980. He is a founder of GHESKIO (Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes), which has championed HIV research and worked closely with Weill Cornell since its inception. In concert with Weill Cornell's Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases, he directs a National Institutes of Health training and research program that focuses on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and diarrheal illness. He is the lead investigator of an HIV vaccine trial that will be initiated later this year in Haiti.
Dr. Pape was honored this past May by the Haitian-Canadian Cator Foundation as one of 10 Haitians who have made outstanding contributions to their country. In 1996, Dr. Pape and the other members of GHESKIO received the Dr. Leon Audain Prize from the Haitian Medical Society for their work in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.