Michael Saag

Dr. Saag is Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Microbiology and Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  During his fellowship in Infectious Diseases, Dr. Saag conceived the concept of a comprehensive HIV outpatient (1917) clinic dedicated to the provision of comprehensive patient care in conjunction with the conduct of high-quality clinic trials, basic science, and clinical outcomes research.  Over the last 35 years, the clinic has treated more than 12,000 patients and has become recognized as one of the best sites for clinical research and care in the United States. Dr. Saag has published over 500 articles in peer reviewed journals, including the first description of the quasispecies nature of HIV (Nature, 1988), the first use of viral load in clinical practice (Science, 1993), the first description of the rapid dynamics of viral replication (Nature, 1995), the first guidelines for use of viral load in practice (Nature Medicine, 1996), the first proof of concept of fusion inhibition as a therapeutic option (Nature Medicine, 1998), and directed the ‘first-in- patient’ studies of 7 of the 25 antiretroviral drugs currently on the market. Dr. Saag has received the Myrtle Wreath Award from Hadassah, was listed as one of the top ten cited HIV researchers by Science (1996), and received multiple Argus Awards for Best Lectures to the 1st year medical students at UAB.  In 2014, Dr. Saag was named the Castle-Connolly National Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence and was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. He is Co-Editor of the Sanford Guide. During the COVID epidemic, Dr. Saag has appeared frequently on CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, and the Paul Finebaum Show and has published frequent OpEd features in the Washington Post. Dr. Saag published a memoir entitled, “Positive:  One doctor’s encounters with death, life, and the US Healthcare System,” which is in its third printing.