Catherine M. Wilfert Oral History Interview, August 25, 2006
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Summary
- Creator:
- Wilfert, Catherine M.
- Abstract:
- Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert (1936- ) was chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics at the Duke University School of Medicine from 1976 until 1994. An award-winning AIDS researcher, she has done much of her work in developing countries. This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on August 26, 2006 by Jessica Roseberry as part of the Women in Duke Medicine Oral History Exhibit. In this interview, Wilfert discusses her work with AIDS patients in developing countries and the development of the anti-HIV drug AZT.
- Extent:
- 1 interview (2 master CDs, 2 use CDs, and 1 transcript)
- Language:
- English
- Collection ID:
- OH.WILFERTC
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Includes 1 oral history interview with Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert conducted on August 26, 2006 by Jessica Roseberry as part of the Women in Duke Medicine Oral History Exhibit.
In this interview, Wilfert discusses her work with AIDS patients in developing countries and the development of the anti-HIV drug AZT.
The transcription of this interview was made possible by a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation. - Biographical / historical:
-
Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert was born on 26 July 1936, in Inglewood, California. She graduated with distinction from Stanford College in 1958 and then attended Harvard Medical School. Her internship was at Boston City Hospital, and her residency was at North Carolina Baptist Hospital. In 1964, Wilfert returned to Boston, where she continued to work in pediatrics and medicine.
In 1971, she came to Duke University School of Medicine, where she achieved the rank of division chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics (1976-1994) and professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. In 1996, she left Duke to become the scientific director of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Wilfert's work since the onset of AIDS has primarily been focused on the eradication of pediatric AIDS, and she is considered a seminal investigator in the field. Her clinical trial group demonstrated the efficacy of using doses of AZT to reduce the incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Due to the application of this knowledge, pediatric AIDS in the United States has been reduced by 75 percent. Wilfert now works to reduce mother-to-infant transmission of AIDS in developing countries around the world. She is also currently the chair of the Perinatal Working Group for the Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Wilfert has been on the editorial board of numerous publications and has served as a consultant for private companies, as well as U.S. and state governments. She is the recipient of many awards, including the 1997 Award of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Prevention of Perinatal Transmission at A Global Strategies Conference for the Prevention of HIV Transmission from Mothers to Infants. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in HIV from the Third International Meeting on HIV in India in 2001; was given the Distinguished Award of Honor for Love of Humanity Especially in the Third World from the Cameroon Baptist Convention on Occasion of Its 50th Anniversary Celebration, in 2004; and received the North Carolina Award for Science, in 2019. She was inducted to the Institute of Medicine in 1999. - Acquisition information:
- Accession A2006.082 (Acquired, August 2006)
- Processing information:
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Processed by Jessica Roseberry: June 2007; encoded by Dawne Howard Lucas: August 2007
- Arrangement:
- Organized into the following series: Interview, August 26, 2006.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Duke University Medical Center Library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- DACS
Subjects
Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site.
- Personal Name(s):
- Buckley, Rebecca H.
Bolognesi, Dani
Katz, Samuel L., 1927-
Wilfert, Catherine M. - Corporate Name(s):
- Duke University. Medical Center
Duke University. School of Medicine
Duke University. Medical Center. Department of Pediatrics - Topical Term(s):
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
Zidovudine.
Developing Countries.
Faculty.
History of Medicine.
Women.
Anti-HIV Agents.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
Clinical Trial.
Contents
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Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
- Preferred citation:
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[Identification of item], Catherine M. Wilfert Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.