Pioneer Doctor in AIDS Studies Joins Hospital

Dr. Michael S. Gottlieb, credited with being the first physician to describe AIDS as a new disease in 1981, is joining Sherman Oaks Community Hospital, which in 1985 became the first hospital in Southern California to establish a unit dedicated exclusively to treating AIDS patients.

Gottlieb, who was Rock Hudson’s physician during the late actor’s battle with the disease, will become medical director of the hospital’s AIDS unit, hospital officials said Friday.

He will also open private medical offices in Sherman Oaks and West Hollywood, a spokesman said.

“His world-renowned reputation in the care of patients with AIDS, as well as his AIDS research . . . will further strengthen the expertise we have there,” said Marc Goldberg, the hospital’s chief executive officer.

Gottlieb joins Drs. Joel Weisman and Gene Rogolsky, founding directors of the hospital’s 20-bed AIDS unit. A series of stubborn infections in patients Weisman and Rogolsky were treating led Gottlieb and Weisman to write a medical journal article describing acquired immune deficiency syndrome as a distinct disease.

Aiding Care

Goldberg said the addition of Gottlieb helps the 156-bed acute-care hospital continue providing AIDS patients with comprehensive care “that includes all the social aspects of the disease as well as diagnosis, treatment and research.”

There are now a dozen hospitals in the Los Angeles area with AIDS units.

Gottlieb’s presence also strengthens the hospital’s trials of experimental drugs for treating the disease, Goldberg said. Gottlieb, Weisman and Rogolsky set up a medical group last year to conduct trials of AIDS treatments.

Gottlieb joined the UCLA School of Medicine faculty in 1980 to research immune-system diseases and soon began working exclusively on AIDS and related illnesses.

In 1983, Gottlieb established a research center at UCLA to coordinate clinical and research activities related to AIDS and attracted funds from the National Institutes of Health and the state of California to support research.

Recently, Gottlieb has been in private practice, specializing in AIDS treatment.

He is a consultant to the state Department of Health Services and the RAND Corp. of Santa Monica. Gottlieb is the senior editor of AIDS Patient Care Magazine, has authored chapters in nine books and co-edited a book called “The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.”