--- description: Dr. Suniti Solomon documented the country's first case of HIV infection in 1986 title: Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS Researcher Dies at 76 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb778cf417edb2863/69885cf43c1639494745909a/ap_05102102211.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Dr. Suniti Solomon, Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS Researcher, Dies at 76 by [Sania Farooqui / New Delhi](/author/sania-farooqui/) ## Sania Farooqui / New Delhi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 29, 2015 8:23 AM CUT  Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista, left, and Director of Y.R. Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education Suniti Solomon at a charity function in Mumbai, India on Oct. 21, 2005 Canadian supermodel Linda Evangelista, left, and Director of Y.R. Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education Suniti Solomon at a charity function in Mumbai, India on Oct. 21, 2005Rajesh Nirgude—AP by [Sania Farooqui / New Delhi](/author/sania-farooqui/) ## Sania Farooqui / New Delhi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 29, 2015 8:23 AM CUT India’s foremost HIV/AIDS researcher Dr. Suniti Solomon, who documented the nation’s first HIV case before setting up the first voluntary testing and counseling center for the disease, died Tuesday at her home in the southern city of Chennai. Solomon, [who was 76](http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/groundbreaking-hiv-researcher-suniti-solomon-passes-away-at-76/articleshow/48253389.cms "undefined"), began tracking the infection at a time when many in the country were reluctant to delve into what was a little known field. In 1986, her discovery of the infection in six blood samples collected from female sex workers in southern India generated headlines internationally. Speaking to [TIME](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962194,00.html# "undefined") in September 1986, after the first Indian cases had been documented, a former senior medical official said: “We in India have been shaken and face a moment of truth.” Trained in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia, Solomon won a string of awards for her HIV/AIDS work. Her pioneering research was prompted by reports on HIV in international journals. “Those were the days when I was reading a lot of foreign journals on the HIV and its effect in the U.S. In a quest to determine whether the virus was spreading here, my postgraduate student Nirmala and I identified a few female sex-workers lodged at the government home on Kutchery Road in Mylapore \[in Chennai\],” she told [the _Hindu_](http://www.thehindu.com/features/downtown/women-power-first-to-detect-hiv-in-india/article3425170.ece "undefined") newspaper last year. Among the first six cases uncovered by Solomon was of a 13-year-old girl who had been forced into the sex trade after being kidnapped. “She was the first girl we tested that I spoke to, and she changed me,” Solomon recalled in a 2009 interview with India’s [_Mint_](http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/0BndFwDSQojGe71oE8lFVK/Freedom-to-live-with-HIV--Suniti-Solomon.html "undefined") newspaper. The samples collected by Solomon, who was being treated for cancer when she died, and her team were eventually sent to [Johns Hopkins University](http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/dr-suniti-solomon-who-pioneered-hiv-research-and-treatment-in-india-passes-away/ "undefined") in the U.S. for further testing and confirmation. “It was frightening really,” she told _Mint_. “My husband was a little worried and didn’t want me to work with HIV-positive patients, most of whom at that time were homosexuals, those who self-injected drugs and sex workers. And I said, look, you have to listen to their stories and you wouldn’t say the same thing.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/"},"headline":"Dr. Suniti Solomon, Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS Researcher, Dies at 76","datePublished":"2015-07-29T08:23:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:41:12.431Z","description":"The Chennai native documented the country's first case of HIV infection in 1986","url":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/","keywords":["India","Aids","South Asia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb778cf417edb2863/69885cf43c1639494745909a/ap_05102102211.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sania Farooqui / New Delhi"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb778cf417edb2863/69885cf43c1639494745909a/ap_05102102211.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"EVANGELISTA AND GAITONDE","caption":"EVANGELISTA AND GAITONDE","creditText":"Rajesh Nirgude—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/","name":"Dr. Suniti Solomon, Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS Researcher, Dies at 76"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Nantucket Project: Meet the Non-Profit Developing a Free HIV Vaccine","description":"This Amazing Non-Profit is Developing an HIV Vaccine to Offer the World for Free","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gU8OrICe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-20T17:39:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gU8OrICe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/","duration":"PT7M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3976357/indian-aids-pioneer-suniti-solomon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```