A pioneer in the field of AIDS research and one of the first inductees into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor.
Bruce Voeller was a biologist and prominent gay-rights activist. After obtaining his PhD in biology from Rockefeller Institute, he pioneered the field of AIDS research, including renaming the disease. At Hunter College and Cornell University, he investigated AIDS disease prevention and with the CDC, even tested nonoxynol-9, a key substance towards inactivating HIV. As an activist, he founded the organization now known as the National LGBTQ Task Force. In 1977, this task force held the first ever meeting to discuss gay and lesbian rights in the White House. Voeller was one of the inaugural members of the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor in New York City, which was the first U.S. National Monument dedicated towards LGBTQ rights and history.