Adimora, Margolis awarded distinguished professorships
March 22, 2018
Dr. Adaora Adimora
Dr. David Margolis
Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH, and David Margolis, MD, both professors of epidemiology at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health and of infectious diseases at the UNC School of Medicine, have been named Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professors.
The five-year professorship is one of the most prestigious awards offered by the UNC School of Medicine.
Both awardees are associated with the UNC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). Adimora co-directs the CFAR Developmental Core, and Margolis directs the HIV Cure Center.
Adimora, who earned a Doctor of Medicine at Yale and Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill, joined the UNC faculty in 1989 after serving on the faculty of Columbia University (1986-1988). Author of more than 140 scientific articles, Adimora studies sexual partnerships and networks, particularly among African-American and Hispanic/Latinx people, and HIV/AIDS.
Margolis, trained at Harvard and Tufts universities, has co-authored more than 150 scientific articles, most about HIV/AIDS and antiretroviral therapy. Prior to joining the UNC faculty in 2005, he was on the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (1999-2005) and the University of Maryland (1994-1999). At UNC, he also is professor of internal medicine and of microbiology and immunology.
His laboratory has a long history of translational HIV research – investigating basic molecular, virological and immunological phenomena and leveraging insights to develop new interventions in HIV disease. Over the last 20 years, he has studied the molecular mechanisms of HIV that allow the virus to remain latent and persistent despite potent antiretroviral therapy, leading more recently to efforts that might rid infected people of the virus.
“This is fantastic news,” said Til Stürmer, MD, PhD, Nancy A. Dreyer Distinguished Professor and chair of the Gillings School’s Department of Epidemiology and director of the School’s Center for Pharmacoepidemiology. “The distinguished professorships are a well-deserved honor for Drs. Margolis and Adimora, whose outstanding work covers the entire range of translational HIV research.”
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
