Ishwar Gilada is the first person to raise the alarm against AIDS in India (1985) and to start India’s first AIDS Clinic (1986) at the government-run JJ Hospital, Mumbai, Dr Ishwar Gilada is a globally acclaimed HIV expert, credited with bringing India on the AIDS control map of the world. He is the President, AIDS Society of India (ASI) and Secretary General, Peoples Health Organisation-India (PHO) and Governing Council member of International AIDS Society.
He had initiated, supervised and evaluated 38 AIDS projects in 7 Indian states; worked as consultant for American Foundation for AIDS Research, World Vision International, USAID; evaluated Zambia's National STD/AIDS Control programme. Till date, he addressed over 3700 meetings and training programmes in India and in several high HIV burden African nations. He has 78 awards to his credit. The Junior Chamber International, USA conferred on him "The Outstanding Young Person of the World" award at Glasgow (1995). He was awarded the coveted Annemarie Madison International Award in Munich and was termed ‘the Indian Machinegun against AIDS’ (1999). Among several firsts, he started India's first comprehensive HIV clinic, Unison Medicare and Research Centre, Mumbai (1995), that manages 6750 patients. It was declared HIV care model for resource-poor settings at the 12th IAC, Geneva, and was replicated in India and Africa.
He served as National AIDS Committee Joint Secretary (1995-1997), on AIDS Society in Asia and Pacific (ASAP) Governing Board (1992-1994), was AIDS Advisor for Goa and Uttar Pradesh states (1995-1999), and was on Global AIDS Policy Coalition and AIDS and Reproductive Health Network boards under Dr Jonathan Mann (1992-2000). He is one of the founders and is Secretary General of Organised Medicine Academic Guild – a federation of professional medical organization in India, established in 2018.
