Front Burner

A conversation with the 'Berlin patient,' the first person cured of HIV

Today on Front Burner, a conversation with Timothy Ray Brown, a.k.a. the “Berlin patient,” the first person cured of HIV.
A man in a blue polo shirt and jacket with close cropped hair and a goatee stands near a window.
Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin patient," was the first person to be seemingly cured of HIV infection. Now researchers are reporting on a second patient. But such transplants are dangerous, cannot be used widely and have failed in other patients. (Manuel Valdes/The Associated Press)

In 2007, a man known as the "Berlin patient" was cured of HIV through a stem cell transplant.

It was an incredible accomplishment that researchers all over the world scrutinized for years to come. He was the first and only documented case of a person who has been cured of HIV until March of this year, when a second patient was declared HIV-free from a similar treatment. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with Timothy Ray Brown, the "Berlin patient."