Hector Bonilla

Hector Bonilla, MD, is an infectious disease doctor and researcher at Stanford University, specializing in HIV/AIDS, HCV and ME/CFS. He received a 2018 Ramsey Award from the Solve ME/CFS Initiative for a genetics project on ME/CFS and the herpes virus. The research follows on his preliminary findings that herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 infection in the sera of individuals with ME/CFS is related to severity of the disease.

Education and training
Dr. Bonilla earned his medical degree (1983) from the Universidad del Valle School of Medicine in Cali, Colombia, where he later served as chief resident in internal medicine (1988). He subsequently conducted a residency at Sinai Hospital of Detroit, earning board certification in internal medicine from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1994. He next completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at University of Michigan and earned board certification in infectious diseases from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1996.

Career and appointments
Dr. Bonilla's early career experience focused on treating HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) at a time when both diseases faced stigma and research neglect for effective treatments. He worked at Louisiana State University, then Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio, and he grew increasingly interested in clinical research. Pursuing these subjects, he joined the University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center as Assistant Professor, Clinician, and Medical Educator in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, then later ImmunoScience Inc., a biotechnology company in California working to develop a therapeutic HIV vaccine, due to his interest in cytokines and immunological responses.

Dr. Bonilla's interest in inflammatory response as well as his experience treating HIV and HCV drew him to the subject of ME/CFS. He is currently Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine - Infectious Diseases, at Stanford University and a positive care doctor at the Stanford's Infectious Disease Clinic. His biography at Stanford describes: "His ME/CFS patients are his inspiration, and he is committed to continuing research to seek answers to their health challenges."

He received a 2018 Ramsey Award from the Solve ME/CFS Initiative for a "Cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of APOE e4 alleles in patients with ME/CFS and the association with herpes virus infection”. The project follows on preliminary findings that herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 infection in the sera of individuals with ME/CFS is related to severity of the disease.