Doctor battled Aids denialism to save many lives
● Protecting babies against HIV and advancing the search for an Aids vaccine are among the ground-breaking contributions that Professor Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council, has made to medical clinical research.
A cutting-edge scientist and charismatic leader, Gray was named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2017.
She has received major accolades, locally and internationally.
The Order of Mapungubwe (silver), awarded for her commitment to driving prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and saving lives, is among them.
Approximately one in four babies were born with HIV when she and fellow doctors pioneered PMTCT to stop this. Today, less than 1% of infants have HIV and treatment is freely available.
“My first highlight was rolling out the PMTCT programme in Soweto. We had to get special permission for this,” said the paediatrician, who was determined to do this despite the obstacles thrown in her path by Aids denialism.
Gray founded the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital with Professor James McIntyre in 1996.
She said it was rewarding to start very sick people on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and watch them get better — at a time when then-health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang touted lemon, garlic and African potatoes as a cure.
“We were initiating about 20 women and children a day onto treatment. We would see kids get stronger and watch emaciated women get back a spring in their gait.
“It was a most rewarding time to be a doctor in SA,” she said.
In 1998, she lay down in the road outside the Soweto hospital to protest against Aids denialism and demand access to treatment. Now SA has more than four million people on ARV treatment.
In 2002, Gray and McIntyre won the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, and the following year they received the Heroes in Medicine award from the International Association of Providers of Aids Care for their commitment and effectiveness.
“What I still love about the Perinatal HIV Research Unit is that it is very responsive to the population it serves and to patients,” said Gray.
“We were the first people at a global level to fight for same-day testing and results for pregnant women.”
Besides clinical work with patients, she is passionate about the search for a vaccine to stop HIV.
“Obviously I have love for this endeavour and it has been exciting putting SA’s own [vaccine] products into clinical trials,” said Gray, the co-principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which conducts about 80% of the clinical trials of HIV vaccines worldwide.
Gray is also committed to researching chronic diseases and chairs the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases.
When she’s not working long hours, Gray spends time with her three children, hikes, swims and does yoga.
“I love to spend time with my kids and that is very special. [The other night] we made supper and all four of us squashed up on the couch to watch a movie,” she said.
“In my next job I don’t want to be the boss. I want to be back in the trenches.”