1925 – 2019
Dr. Charles (Charlie) van der Horst led the UNC ACTG site until 2002 and served in multiple leadership roles in the network until his retirement in 2014. Charlie was a dedicated clinician and activist investigator who made important contributions to studies to improve treatment and prevention for opportunistic infections, most notably Cryptococcal meningitis and PCP. He was committed to the expansion of ART to underserved populations from rural NC to southern Africa. He led one of the largest single-center studies of prevention of vertical transmission (in Malawi) and he and his trainees improved treatments for cryptococcal infection around the globe. Charlie was a driving force in the efforts to establish an international component of the ACTG network in 2000. Charlie will be remembered for his compassion and commitment and for his unrelenting desire to make the world a better place for all.