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Mathilde Krim was best known for her tireless work in promoting research to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. She co-founded AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF) in 1983 and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) in 1985. The Krim Papers document her life as a research scientist, AIDS activist, and philanthropist. The bulk consists of records created and material collected by Krim and amfAR employees and board members.
History and Biography
Research scientist, AIDS activist, co-founder of amfAR (Foundation for AIDS Research), and philanthropist. Mathilde Krim was best known for her tireless work in promoting research to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Beginning in the early years of the disease, when its transmission and pathogenesis was less understood, she became one of the country’s most visible advocates for the need to adequately fund research as well as an outspoken champion of the human rights and dignity of persons living with HIV/AIDS. Her work was instrumental in raising the alarm--both in the United States and globally--to address the escalating AIDS epidemic in the 1980s-2000s.
Born July 9, 1926 in Como, Italy as the first of four children to Rosa Krause and Eugene Emmanuel Galland, Mathilde Krim received her bachelor’s degree (1948) and PhD (1953) from the University of Geneva and worked in cytogenetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel (1953-1959). She went on to research positions at Cornell University Medical College (1959-1962) and the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research (SKI) (1962-1985) where she focused her research on the use of interferons to treat cancer, a type of immunotherapy that has been applied to treatments beyond cancer. She was part of the congressional advisory commission on the “war against cancer” in 1970. She led two international conferences on interferon held in New York City in 1975 and 1979 and served as a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1977. She was a member of the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1979-1981.
In 1981 she was named Director of the Interferon Lab at SKI when her work on interferons intersected with research on AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)—at the time, an unknown condition first noticed among gay men. By 1982, cases had also been identified among heterosexuals, particularly those engaged in intravenous drug use or who were recipients of blood transfusions, indicating that infection spread via blood regardless of gender or sexual orientation. In 1983, the virus causing AIDS was identified and by 1986 named HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
Krim, along with other scientists involved in researching the causes, cures, and treatments for the disease, founded the AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF) in 1983. In September 1985, AMF merged with newly established National Foundation for AIDS Research to form the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). In 2005, the organization truncated its name to Foundation for AIDS Research. Krim was Chair of the amfAR Board of Directors (1990-2004) and was a board member of other like-minded organizations, such as the National Biomedical Research Foundation, the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and the African-American Institute.
In her personal life, she met medical student David Danon while also a student in Geneva, converted to Judaism and married in 1948. They had one daughter. After completing her PhD, Krim moved with her husband to Israel where she rose to become research associate at the Weizmann Institute. With Leo Sachs and other Weizmann scientists, Krim co-authored several papers important in the development of amniocentesis.
Krim divorced Danon in 1955. In 1958, she married Arthur B. Krim, a Columbia alumnus (B.A. 1930, J.D.1932) and Trustee (1967-1994), and motion picture executive (Chairman of United Artists 1951-1978). They resided in New York City. Arthur Krim was also chairperson of the Democratic National Finance Committee (1966-1968) and the Democratic Advisory Council of Elected Officials (1973-1976). Active in philanthropy and fundraising for the Democratic Party, the Krims were friends with the elite and had the ear of important politicians, such as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. These celebrity contacts later proved beneficial in bolstering the message of amfAR, particularly through fund-raising and lobbying. Arthur Krim died September 21, 1994.
Krim served on numerous boards, advisory groups, and task forces relating to her work as a research scientist and philanthropist. She was the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, recognizing her contributions to science, AIDS activism and as a Jewish-American. She was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 2000.
Mathilde Krim was appointed Associate Research Scientist in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in 1986 and later became an adjunct professor of health policy there. She served on the Mailman School’s Board of Overseers for many years and received an honorary degree from Columbia University in 1988. The University endowed the Dr. Mathilde Krim-amfAR Chair of Global Health professorship in 2015.
Mathilde Krim died January 15, 2018 at Kings Point, New York.
Organization
The collection is arranged into five series: I. Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research; II. amfAR; III. Personal; IV. Photographs; V. 2021 Accession.
The Krim Papers document her life as a research scientist, AIDS activist, and philanthropist. The bulk consists of records created and material collected by Krim, her office assistant James Crowley, and amfAR employees and board members, and include printedout email correspondence, letters, memoranda, notes, lists, reports, minutes, meeting materials, financial statements, grant applications, photographs, itineraries and other travel documents, agendas, informational brochures, and flyers and other printed works created by amfAR.
Questionnaires, reports, polls, correspondence, research and popular literature, manuscripts, speeches, interviews, congressional testimony, programs, conference proceedings, brochures, promotional material, videos and other records document the development of government policy and that of the national, international, and New York State organizations created to monitor and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. This involved AIDS surveillance, needle exchange programs, drug pricing, testing technology, vaccines and other investigational treatments.
AmfAR galas and other events—serving to both fund raise and increase awareness of the AIDS epidemic—are documented with photographs, invitations, programs, promotional material, notes and other planning records. Records documenting the relationship between Krim/amfAR and individuals and organizations involved with AIDS advocacy and research consist of information packets, correspondence, audiovisual works, photographs, brochures, reports, and publications. Also included are educational communications on the transmission and prevention of AIDS and the documentation of myriad organizations offering support services for HIV-positive persons and their families.
Besides her AIDS activism, the papers document Krim’s work at Sloan-Kettering Institute – especially her interferon research – Cornell, Weizmann, Columbia University, as well as other professional activities. A smaller amount of letters, photographs, plaques, certificates, awards, and other materials document Krim’s personal life – although much of her professional life spilled into personal life, particularly with amfAR.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of Daphna Krim, June 2018 (accession number 2018.024 and 2021.002).
Folder titles were retained, but supplied if lacking—such as loose materials. Items were separated if oversized, but otherwise the content of files were kept in original order regardless of media type. Paperclips were removed. Some photographs were rehoused in mylar enclosures. 8-inch floppy disks were separated and are not accessible pending future preservation imaging. Processed by Jennifer Ulrich, July 2019.