Photo: Wc2713 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
David Ho is, to me, a genuine hero in a way few public figures ever are. Born in Taichung and raised in America, he pioneered combination antiretroviral therapy at the exact moment HIV meant certain death, and in doing so converted a terminal sentence into a manageable chronic illness. It is hard to overstate how many lives that single shift in thinking has saved. The Presidential Citizens Medal and Prince Mahidol Award are impressive, yet what moves me is the human reality behind them: hope returned to people who had none. Scientists like Ho rarely get celebrity treatment, but they deserve it most.
Overview
David Da-i Ho (Chinese: 何大一; pinyin: Hé Dà-yī; born November 3, 1952) is a Taiwanese-American physician-scientist and virologist known for his contributions in HIV/AIDS research. He pioneered the use of combination anti-retroviral therapy instead of single therapy in the treatment of HIV infection which transformed HIV from an absolute terminal disease into a chronic disease.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- David Ho
- Name (Japanese)
- デビッド・ホー
- Reading
- でびっど・ほー
- Born
- November 3, 1952 (age 73)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Dragon
- Origin
- Taichung, Taiwan
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- virologist / physician
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- John Marshall High School
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- Presidential Citizens Medal
- 2006 California Hall of Fame
- 1991 Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine
- 1997 Humanitarian of the Year
- honorary doctor of the University of Hong Kong
- 2006 honorary doctor of the Tsinghua University
- 2013 Prince Mahidol Award
- 2007 Great Immigrants Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Physician — see all → · More people from Taiwan →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.