Selma Dritz
Encyclopedia
Dr. Selma Kaderman Dritz (born June 29, 1917, Chicago, Illinois — died September 3, 2008, Oakland, California
) was an American
physician and epidemiologist who worked in San Francisco, where she began tracking the first known cases of AIDS
in the early 1980s.
and a new form of cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma
, both of which were afflicting gay men.
Dr. Paul Volberding
, former president of the International AIDS Society who helped found the first AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital in the 1980s said of Dr. Dritz:
.
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician and epidemiologist who worked in San Francisco, where she began tracking the first known cases of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in the early 1980s.
Education
She earned her medical degree at the University of Illinois and her MPH (Master's degree in Public Health) at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health in 1967.Career
In 1968 she was hired by the City of San Francisco as assistant director of its Health Department's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control. Thirteen years later, she and Dr. Erwin Braff, the director of her bureau, took note of a strange new form of pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and a new form of cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma
Kaposi's sarcoma
Kaposi's sarcoma is a tumor caused by Human herpesvirus 8 , also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus . It was originally described by Moritz Kaposi , a Hungarian dermatologist practicing at the University of Vienna in 1872. It became more widely known as one of the AIDS defining...
, both of which were afflicting gay men.
Dr. Paul Volberding
Paul Volberding
Paul A. Volberding is an American physician who is best known for his pioneering work in treating persons with HIV.-Work:In 1983, Volberding founded the first inpatient ward for persons with AIDS in the San Francisco General Hospital....
, former president of the International AIDS Society who helped found the first AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital in the 1980s said of Dr. Dritz:
She was an absolutely wonderful person, and played an incredibly important role during those early days of the epidemic... Dr. Dritz was the most important person to whom the Centers for Disease Control came for the details of the AIDS situation here, and the information she gathered was invaluable for the CDC epidemiologists in understanding how the epidemic was spreading.
Personal life
Dr. Dritz's 1943 marriage ended in divorce. She was survived by her three children (Dr. Ronald Dritz, Deborah Dritz and Ariel Mumma) and two grandsons.Death
She died in 2008, aged 91, at the Claremont House Retirement Center in Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.