Louisville native Michael Saag, M.D., went into medicine intending to become a cardiologist, but in 1981, as the first cases of AIDS were being described in Los Angeles and New York City, his interest in solving medical mysteries led him to study infectious diseases instead.
Now, more than three decades later, he is a professor of medicine and director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Birmingham. He is an internationally known expert on HIV and treating patients with AIDS.
Dr. Saag has written a memoir, Positive, which was published by Greenleaf Book Group and released on April 15. From stories of his childhood as a young Jewish boy whose mother knew he’d be a doctor, to the harrowing tales of his patients fighting their HIV/AIDS, Positive tells all from Saag’s life on the front lines of this disease.
The result is a behind-the-scenes look at how the research happened and then was translated into the clinic in a very rapid fashion.