Last week, we were saddened to hear of the passing of biologist and HIV/AIDS crusader Mathilde Krim who, among other accomplishments, founded the nonprofit that became the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). Krim was born in Italy in 1926 and raised in Switzerland, where she received degrees in genetics from the University of Geneva. She worked for a time at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel before moving to New York, where she took a position at Cornell University Medical School and, later, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
She was deeply involved in research on the use of the drug interferon to treat leukemia when a physician friend drew her attention to mysterious disease clusters we now know to be caused by HIV/AIDS. Showing her characteristic flexibility in techniques and pathways, but never morals, she switched her research focus to HIV. Quickly becoming deeply involved in the HIV/AIDS community, she was deeply troubled by the stigma surrounding the disease, stigma she began to work tirelessly to dispel, in part through helping explain the science behind it.
Krim knew that she was in a unique position to address the AIDS crisis – she had a strong scientific background as well as connections to people in power (and sources of money) through her movie mogul husband, Arthur Krim. Utilizing these resources, she co-founded what would become Amfar in 1983. She served as amfAR’s chairman for over a decade, helping introduce legislation for increased research into AIDS as well as improved access to AIDS treatment. In addition to working through scientific and political channels, she recruited prominent celebrities to her cause – through fundraisers and events they raised millions of dollars while also helping with destigmatization.
Mathilde Krim has been described as a “scientist turned activist,” but these roles are not mutually exclusive – Krim was a scientist AND activist. After decades of research, she eventually left academia to focus on advocacy; but when she left the lab, she didn’t leave science, she merely contributed from new angles. Furthermore, Krim was an advocate all her life, active in numerous civil and human rights movements around the world. No, Krim was not a scientist TURNED activist, she was a scientist AND activist who was able to unite these two roles to great effect.
Photo credit: amfAR
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