Michael S. Saag, MD

Dr. Michael Saag graduated from the University of Kentucky before going to medical school at LSU. As a resident in Medicine at UAB, he was attracted to an infectious disease fellowship in the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. During the last 6 months of his fellowship, Mike Saag conceived the concept of a comprehensive HIV outpatient clinic dedicated to the provision of comprehensive patient care in conjunction with the conduct of high quality clinic trials, basic science, and clinical outcomes research. He went on to establish the 1917 Clinic for persons with HIV/AIDS. Within the clinic structure, he created a clinical trials unit, a data management center, and a Clinical Specimen Repository designed to support the activities of the UAB Center for AIDS Research, one of the original seven NIH-designated centers in 1988.

Dr. Mike Saag has published over 300 articles, including the first description of the use of viral load in clinical practice, the first description of the rapid dynamics of viral replication, the first guidelines for use of viral load in practice, and directed the ‘first-in-patient’ studies of 7 of the 25 antiretroviral drugs currently on the market. He is an international leader in HIV/AIDS research and patient care and has recently published a personal history of the epidemic titled “Positive”.