Paul A. Volberding, MD, is a Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine and the Director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of California, San Francisco, and Chief of Medical Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Volberding served as Director of the Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital for more than 15 years. He has served as a provider at 360 since 2000.

He received his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota, respectively, and finished training at the University of Utah and the University of California, San Francisco, where he studied for two years as a research fellow in the virology laboratory of Dr. Jay Levy, later a co-discoverer of HIV.

Volberding’s professional activities centered for many years at San Francisco General Hospital, where he established a model program of AIDS patient care, research, and professional education. His research career began with investigations of HIV-related malignancies, especially Kaposis sarcoma. His primary research focus, however, shifted to clinical trials of antiretroviral drugs. He has been instrumental in testing many compounds, but is best known for groundbreaking trials establishing standards of care for the use of zidovudine in asymptomatic HIV infection.

Volberding has written many research and review articles. He is the co-editor in chief of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and is the founder and Chair of the Board of the International AIDS Society–USA. He is also the co-editor of The Medical Management of AIDS, the most widely used textbook of HIV medicine, now in its sixth edition. He was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1999.