Iris Long, who helped steer early AIDS advocates into effective treatment activism that led to the development of lifesaving HIV meds, died April 4. She was 92.
Long was a retired pharmaceutical chemist living in Queens, New York, when AIDS emerged as a global threat in the 1980s. Compelled to take action at a time when people couldn’t do research online and when most young AIDS activists knew little about pharmaceutical companies and drug development, Long shared her knowledge with activists in ACT UP New York, working directly with them on effective ways to pressure researchers to test and market lifesaving drugs. The title of a CBS news segment in 2013 illustrates her legacy: “Iris Long: How One Woman Saved Eight Million People.”
https://www.poz.com/article/rip-iris-long-lifesaving-hiv-treatment-activist-ally