Mahlon Johnson, MD, PhD, who as a Vanderbilt pathologist in 1997 briefly became a national media figure after he successfully treated himself after he contracted HIV during an autopsy, died Feb. 3 at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. He was 70.
At the time of his death, Dr. Johnson was a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
He was a native of Lexington, Massachusetts, who received his medical degree and PhD from the University of Tennessee and came to Vanderbilt for an internship and residency in Pathology.
Dr. Johnson was an assistant professor in Pathology and Cell Biology at Vanderbilt when, during an autopsy in 1992 at the Veterans Administration Hospital, his hand slipped, and he sliced through his protective gloves. He cut his finger and infected himself via the blood of the patient, who had died of AIDS.
At that time, AIDS was incurable and usually fatal.
As detailed in his book, “Working on a Miracle,” which he published five years later, Dr. Johnson began taking a combination of therapeutic drugs that reduced the HIV in his bloodstream to undetectable levels.
Dr. Johnson’s compelling story made his book a bestseller. He gave interviews to many national media outlets in the aftermath of its publication and was most notably the subject of a feature on CBS’s “60 Minutes” with correspondent Ed Bradley.
In later years, the kind of combination drug therapy for HIV infection pioneered by Dr. Johnson became a standard treatment.
After leaving Vanderbilt, Dr. Johnson served in faculty positions at the University of Tennessee before moving to the University of Rochester, where he also served as director of Neuropathology.
His survivors include sister, Bonnie Claudice Johnson of Knoxville, Tennessee, and half-brothers, Duncan Campbell Johnson of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Ian Benjamin Johnson of Tyler, Texas.
