King Holmes, ‘giant’ of medicine and STI research, dies at 87
King Holmes, MD, PhD, an infectious diseases physician and researcher who helped create modern STI research and was a central figure in the early AIDS epidemic, died Sunday at the age of 87 years, the University of Washington announced.
Holmes died in Seattle after a long illness, according to the university, where he was a distinguished professor emeritus of global health, professor emeritus of medicine in the division of allergy and infectious disease and the founding chair of global health.
Holmes was known for “nearly single-handedly” leading the field of STIs “into the modern scientific era,” the university wrote in a tribute.
“King Holmes was truly a giant of medicine and public health. His decades-long leadership of innovation and dedication reduced the scourge of STIs,” Paul A. Volberding, MD, chief medical editor of Healio | Infectious Disease News and professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Healio.
Volberding called Holmes “soft-spoken but actually fierce in his determination to keep a spotlight on the value of disease prevention as well as treatment.”
“He unceasingly spoke the truth to power, advocating for condom availability and use at a time when that was still controversial,” Volberding said. “He took on the challenge of the AIDS epidemic almost immediately and played a central role in creating the structures of an informed, evidence-based public health response.”
In a June 2007 article, late Infectious Disease News Chief Medical Editor Theodore C. Eickhoff, MD, recounted a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Epidemiological Society titled, “Preventing sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections: Science, morals, ethics, culture and politics.”
“There is only one person in the world who could present that talk, of course,” Eickhoff wrote, “and that is King Holmes.”
Holmes was born Sept. 1, 1937, in Ramsey County, Minnesota, according to the University of Washington. He received a BA from Harvard College in 1959, an MD from Cornell University in 1963 and a PhD in microbiology from the University of Hawaii while serving as an epidemiologist in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps stationed at Pearl Harbor from 1964 to 1967.
During his time in Hawaii, Holmes’ research focused on gonorrhea and nongonococcal urethritis, according to the University of Washington. A tribute to Holmes published in September in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases noted that his first three research articles on STIs were published at the same time in JAMA.
Holmes began his nearly 6-decade career at the University of Washington in 1969, where he led successful and internationally influential centers dedicated to STDs and HIV/AIDS, Volberding noted.
The STD clinic he founded at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle went on to become “a national model for academic/public health collaboration” in STDs and communicable diseases, the university said.
Holmes was also known as a prolific mentor of scientists and clinicians, and for providing training and technical assistance in STIs and HIV/AIDS in far-flung places around the globe, the university noted.
“King was often soft spoken but actually fierce in his determination to keep a spotlight on the value of disease prevention as well as treatment,” Volberding said. “He was a mentor to many of our current leaders. He will be sorely missed.”
References:
- Handsfield HH, et al. Sex Transm Dis. 2024;doi:10.1097/OLQ.0000000000002013.
- In memory: World STD research pioneer Dr. King Holmes. https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/in-memory-world-std-research-pioneer-dr-king-holmes. Published March 9, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2025.