17 July 2019

Five years on, we remember our friends and colleagues Joep Lange and Jacqueline van Tongeren who, together with Pim de Kuijer, Lucie Mens and Martine de Schutter and many others, lost their lives in the Malaysia Airlines accident in Ukraine.

Joep was one of the pioneers and key figures in research into AIDS, initially mainly in the Netherlands, and later increasingly internationally. He worked tirelessly with a progressive vision for people with HIV and to make adequate HIV treatment available globally. Joep’s contributions to the field of HIV and AIDS are countless. He was one of the founders of the ATHENA cohort and the subsequent HIV Monitoring Foundation, and was chairman of the scientific advisory board since the establishment of the foundation.

Jacqueline was also extremely dedicated to the fight against AIDS from the outset, initially as a nurse on the AIDS ward of the Slotervaart Hospital, later as a coordinating research nurse for the National AIDS Therapy Evaluation Centre at the AMC, and, during the latter years, as head of communications for the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development. In this capacity, Jacqueline worked with unparalleled commitment and enthusiasm together with SHM to organise the annual conference NCHIV.

We will never forget these people's achievements and continue to gravely miss them every day.