Dr. Ann Collier

Dr. Ann Collier is a pioneer in infectious disease control, and she was in Seattle at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. She started an AIDS clinic at Harborview Medical Center, which moved to a more clinical setting, with treatment areas and pharmacy, and renamed the Madison Clinic. (A plaque at Broadway & Madision, inside the Whole Foods there, commemorates the site of the clinic) Dr. Collier has fought against stigmas in the community, such as women don’t get AIDS. She highlights that here in Seattle, we have HIV clinics, researchers, and a belief in academic excellence, but it wasn’t until an AIDS conference in 2000 in South Africa that treatment and resource options changed on a large scale, including the US government’s PEPFAR program creation. Today, science has resulted in just a few true “cures” of AIDS, but Dr. Collier is keeping an open mind on the future of HIV/AIDS treatments, banishing stigmas, and ending HIV/AIDS.