Solomon, Suniti

Suniti Solomon is an Indian microbiologist who diagnosed that country's first case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1986. She founded the nonprofit YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education in 1993, which offers HIV and sex education, counseling and testing services, and outpatient and inpatient services for over 12,500 persons living with HIV. Solomon has published extensively on HIV epidemiology and has participated in international conferences on the subject. Retired from her duties as a professor at Chennei Medical College in India, she continues her work with HIV patients as doctor, researcher, and counselor.

The only girl among eight children born into a Chennai-based Maharashtrian Hindu family in the leather trade, Solomon first became interested in medicine when a health officer visited the Gaitondes ...