Joseph Marie Albert "Joep" Lange (; 25 September 1954 – 17 July 2014) was a Dutch clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy. He served as the president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004. He was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down on 17 July 2014 over Ukraine. Early life and education Lange was born on 25 September 1954 in Nieuwenhagen in the Netherlands. He was a Youth for Understanding foreign exchange student from 1971 to 1972 at Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida. He later studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam, receiving his MD in 1981 and his PhD in 1987. Career In 2001, he founded the "PharmAccess Foundation", a non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam which aims to improve access to HIV/AIDS therapy in developing countries, and he served as chairman until his death. Lange was a former president of the International AIDS Society (2002–04). Lange was also the Scientific Director of HIV[e]Ducation, an online learning system for medical doctors, nurses and counsellors working with HIV-positive people. He was also a founding editor of the medical journal, Antiviral Therapy. In 2006 he became Professor of Medicine at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam and Senior Scientific Advisor to the International Antiviral Therapy Evaluation Centre, Amsterdam. He was also co-director of the HIV Netherlands Australia Research Collaboration, based in Thailand. Joep Lange established the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD) in 2009 and uniquely positioned it to fill the gap of the ‘delivery perspective’ which has been largely neglected in academic approaches to global health. AIGHD links disciplines, resources and innovative programs from academic institutions and implementing partners in both the developed and developing world, with the ultimate aim to lead the way to access to high quality health care for all inhabitants of this world. Lange also served on Accordia Global Health Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board. He was a member of several societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, and International AIDS Society. He received the Eijkman Medal for tropical medicine and international health in 2007. HIV/AIDS prevention During the mid-1990s, Lange began advocating for the use of combination therapy in the management of HIV/AIDS. He argued that it is an "illusion to think that monotherapy with any antiretroviral agent will have a major and lasting impact on this disease" because