Dr. Pauline “Polly” Thomas began her career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in New York City in 1981—the exact year the HIV/AIDS crisis first surfaced in public health reports.
As one of the world’s first medical field investigators, Dr. Thomas worked on the front lines to identify how the virus spread. Her evaluations were instrumental in proving that HIV was transmitted via blood and body fluids rather than casual contact. She was in the field for critical early investigations identifying transmission by intravenous (IV) drug use, heterosexual contact, mother-to-infant transmission, and blood transfusions. She also evaluated a possible link to alkyl nitrites (“poppers”) and the controversial classification of Haitian nationality as a risk factor. Most importantly, Dr. Thomas’s persistent research proved that HIV could not be transmitted through casual contact, a discovery that fundamentally protected human rights and combated global stigma.
While the world has seen tremendous progress in HIV prevention and treatment, these life-saving advancements now face threats, from underutilized pre-exposure prophylaxis to the withdrawal from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the program launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 that has saved millions of lives worldwide.
Intro music composed by Kevin MacLeod and downloaded at https://incompetech.com/
