Jonathan Lax Memorial Award Lecture

Starting in 1996, the Jonathan Lax Memorial Award Lecture honors the memory of Jonathan Lax, a Philadelphia community leader who made significant contributions to civil rights, gay rights, and HIV activism/therapy. Hosted by The Wistar Institute, the Lax Lecture is a public lecture that brings together leading, international HIV scientists to give research updates to local researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates. Mr. Lax was a businessman, inventor, teacher, and one of the best-known AIDS activists in Philadelphia’s clinical research network, working with many groups to try and speed the drug approval process. Perhaps most importantly, he was an advisor, offering the latest available information to those infected with the HIV virus – a tradition the Lecture continues to this day. Today, Mr. Lax’s legacy also includes the Jonathan Lax Center at Philadelphia FIGHT, which started as a clinic with his initial funds in 1996 and now the largest provider of AIDS care in Philadelphia.

29th Annual Jonathan Lax Lecture

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28th Annual Jonathan Lax Lecture

Dr. Drew Weissman is the 2023 Nobel Laureate in Physics or Medicine. In 2024, we honor his leadership and vision in driving RNA-based therapeutics and their relevance to HIV vaccine and HIV cure-directed research efforts. Dr. Weissman’s lecture is entitled, “Development of novel therapies based on RNA: from COVID vaccines to anti-HIV strategies.”

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27th Annual Jonathan Lax Lecture

Dr. Deborah Persaud is a clinician and researcher focused on the study and treatment of HIV infection in children and adolescents. A professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she has been widely recognized for her research impact in HIV reservoirs in pediatric infections. Her lecture is entitled “PAVE-ing the Way for ART-Free Remission in Children Living with HIV”.

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26th Annual Jonathan Lax Lecture

Opening with a musical performance by Moses Supercharger and the Stigma-less Band, the 2022 Lax Lecture honored Mike McCune, M.D., Ph.D., head of HIV Frontiers, Global Health Biotechnology Accelerator at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His talk, “ Bringing Safe and Effective Curative Interventions for HIV and Sickle Cell Disease to Resource-limited Parts of the World” was followed by a global panel discussing, What does a cure for HIV mean to me?

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25th Annual Jonathan Lax Lecture

The Wistar Legacy Awards recognized 25 years of partnership across science, community, philanthropy, faith, and government to fight against the injustices brought about by the AIDS pandemic in Philadelphia in the mid 80s. Dr. Anthony Fauci, 5th director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gave the 25th Jonathan Lax Memorial Lecture. He spoke to how far HIV cure research has pushed the envelope in the last 25 years and how research continues to get closer to the eradication of HIV.

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Jonathan Lax Memorial Award Recipients