AIDS researcher Professor David Cooper AC remembered by global community
HE HAS been remembered as curbing the scourge of HIV in Australia, of responding quickly to its initial outbreak, and to transforming it from a death sentence into a treatable disease. A tribute to the life of Professor David Cooper.
Southern Courier
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THE extraordinary leap in HIV treatment, from a deadly and feared virus to a chronic but treatable condition, is due in great part to the lifelong work of Professor David Cooper.
When the virus first emerged in the early 1980s, the global medical community was unprepared for the swift destruction it caused.
In 1983, Prof Cooper was at ground zero in Boston, where HIV first came to light. He was swift to return home to Australia, helping to curb the scourge of the catastrophic outbreak from the outset.
Three years later, he had established the prime mover in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS — Sydney’s Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society,
On Thursday, more than 1000 people gathered to honour the late professor, who passed away in March from an auto-inflammatory disease, aged 68.
Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, whom Prof Cooper named the Kirby Institute after, remembered his close friend as a “global hero”.
“Countries have a tendency to let down their people, it’s just the way of the world,” Mr Kirby said.
“But … with our hero David Cooper, Australia did us proud.
“What could of been an unmapped, unmitigated catastrophe became a brave example by Australia to the whole world.
“Our nation responded to this cruel epidemic with rare political harmony based on the best of scientific evidence … David Cooper helped to give us the evidence to support this rare, national energy and determination.”
This week, the council of the Order of Australia appointed the country’s highest civil honour, an AC, posthumously to David Cooper.
“To honour David and to do so this week has allowed Australia to speak at once in a loud, clear voice — David was one of our finest, bravest, best of scientists and citizens,” he said.
“He was not just ours alone, he belonged to the world of science and today we honour him as a global hero.”
Mr Kirby said he hoped his friend’s legacy will continue, with the newly established David Cooper Memorial Fund.
“This challenge is by no means over, and I urge all of you to support the fund so that we can continue David’s energy,” Mr Kirby said.
St Vincent’s Hospital was at the heart of Prof Cooper’s HIV research in Sydney in the ’80s and ’90s and on Thursday chief executive Anthony Schembri said he was delighted to also add to the legacy with the naming of the Professor David Cooper Clinical Fellowship, for an emerging clinician or scientist to work in the same clinic where Prof Cooper started.
Professor Ian Jacobs, president and vice-chancellor of UNSW Sydney, where the Kirby Institute is now based, remembered Prof Cooper as a “wonderful leader, colleague, mentor and a brilliant mind”.
“He was the first academic I met when I accepted the role of vice-chancellor of UNSW,” he said.
“He travelled to Manchester to welcome me, and share his invaluable insights into UNSW. “Above all, David ensured I knew just how important the work of the Kirby Institute was.
“There are few people I have met, not just in medical research but anywhere, who combined David’s intellect, passion and compassion.
“His dedication to his research was surpassed only by the care and dignity with which he treated his patients.”
For Craig Cooper, Prof Cooper’s impact was a deeply personal one.
The chief executive of Positive Life NSW is a former HIV patient of the late professor and on Thursday he took to the podium in Town Hall to share tearful memories of the man from the other side of the treatment room.
“On my first meeting with David I was impressed by his warmth and caring,” he said.
“I was put at ease and over time a respectful rapport began to grow. I knew I could rely on him to do what was needed to remain healthy and alive.”
Mr Cooper said the late professor was a beacon of light for the entire HIV community in Sydney over the last three decades.
“He was not only a doctor to me but a doctor to a community,” he said.
“David’s commitment to a diverse ray of patients was heartwarming. Examples of some of the patients were sex workers, people who used drugs, Aboriginal people, woman, men and trans people living with HIV, gay men and people from cultural or diverse backgrounds.”
“(He) cared for thousands of people in Australia and internationally who would not be alive today if it were not for his work.
“His legacy will not be forgotten. He will be remembered.”
Prof Cooper’s daughters said their father was committed to supporting his patients, many of whom were part of the gay community of Sydney.
They recalled the day they joined their father on the Kirby Institute float at the 1999 Sydney mardi gras.
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“The young men … they were so emotional at just seeing him participating in the event,” Bec said.
“The meaning that it had for these men to see their doctor … fully participating and dressing up in mardi gras … was really important.”
Before his death Prof Cooper worked on delivering PrEP (a pre-exposure prophylaxis) to thousands of gay men across NSW, to prevent new infections.
“We believe PrEP has the potential to effectively stop transmission in NSW”, Prof Cooper said in November 2016.
“To be talking about potentially ending the epidemic after the battle we faced in the 1980s and 90s, it’s just incredible.”
He is survived by his wife Dorrie, and daughters Bec and Illana.