Symposium draws many touched by Wright’s career

Peter Wright M.D., talks with Shahana Choudhury, M.D., at the symposium last week honoring Wright’s Vanderbilt career. (photo by Kats Barry)

Symposium draws many touched by Wright’s career

Peter Wright, M.D., center poses with colleagues who celebrated his career during a symposium last week at the Vanderbilt Student Life Center. From left are James Crowe, M.D., Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D., William Gruber, M.D., Wright, David Karzon, M.D., Warren Johnson, M.D., and Philip Johnson, M.D. (photo by Mark Denison)

In 1982, as a chief resident at Metro General Hospital, Barney Graham, M.D., diagnosed one of the first two cases of AIDS in Tennessee.

Five years later, he was tapped by Peter Wright, M.D., to help launch one of the nation's first AIDS vaccine evaluation units at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

While an effective vaccine has not yet been developed, “I'm more optimistic now than I have been in the last 20 years,” said Graham, who later earned a Ph.D. in microbiology, and who continues his vaccine research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Graham spoke May 18 at a symposium honoring Wright, who will step down from his position as chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in July to split his time between Vanderbilt and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

What's exciting Graham is the development of a novel vaccine at the NIH that targets three of the most common subtypes of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

While the vaccine may not prevent HIV infection, early studies indicate it may safely control the infection, keeping virus levels low enough to slow progression of AIDS and prevent transmission to other people, he said.

“Working on vaccines is a very hopeful enterprise,” said Graham, chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory and Clinical Trials Core at the NIH Vaccine Research Center. “Hope is what motivates us to live with the anticipation of a better future.

“Thank you, Peter, for … starting me on that path,” he said.

Also speaking at the symposium were:

• Former Vanderbilt faculty member William Gruber, M.D., now vice president for clinical research at Wyeth Vaccines Research;

• Warren Johnson Jr., M.D., chief of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University; and

• Philip Johnson, M.D., chief scientific officer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.