Robert R Redfield

Robert R. Redfield Jr. is an American virologist, a professor of Medicine at University of Maryland, Baltimore and a co-founder and associate director of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Redfield is known for his pioneering contributions in clinical research, and in particular for his extensive research into the virology and therapeutic treatments of HIV infection and AIDS. During the 1980s in the early years of investigation into the AIDS pandemic Redfield led the research that was the first to conclusively demonstrate that the HIV retrovirus could be heterosexually transmitted. He also developed the staging system now in use worldwide for the clinical assessment of HIV infection.

Redfield's parents were both scientists at the National Institutes of Health, and Redfield's career in medical research was influenced by this background. At college Redfield gained experience working in laboratories at Columbia University where the involvement of retroviruses in human disease was investigated.

As an undergraduate Redfield attended Georgetown University, obtaining a B.S. from the university's College of Arts and Sciences in 1973. He then attended Georgetown University School of Medicine, and was awarded his M.D. in 1977. Redfield's medical residency was undertaken at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, D.C., where he completed his postgraduate medical training and internships in internal medicine (1978–1980). By 1982 at WRAMC Redfield had completed clinical and research fellowships in infectious diseases and tropical medicine. Redfield continued as a U.S. Army physician and medical researcher at the WRAMC for the next decade, working in the fields of virology, immunology and clinical research. During this period he collaborated with numerous teams at the forefront of AIDS research, publishing several key papers and was a strong and innovative advocate for strategies to translate knowledge gained from clinical studies to the practical treatment of patients afflicted by chronic viral diseases.

Redfield retired from WRAMC in 1995, to concentrate on setting up a multidisciplinary research organization dedicated to developing research and treatment programs for chronic human viral infection and disease. To this end, in 1996 Redfield co-founded the Institute of Human Virology based at Maryland, together with his HIV research colleagues Dr. Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of the HIV retrovirus, and noted viral epidemiologist Dr. William Blattner.

Recognition awards acquired over the course of his research career include an honorary degree from the New York Medical College, a lifetime services award from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Immunology and Aging, and the Surgeon General's Physician Recognition Award.

Controversy

In 1993, Redfield was the subject of a U.S. Army investigation into allegations that he had intentionally overstated the results of a therapeutic HIV vaccine undergoing clinical trials. The Army cleared Redfield of these charges, but did chastise him for an excessively close relationship with the conservative non-governmental group "Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy".