Before anyone knew what to call it, Dr. Mark Whiteside was studying, diagnosing, and even screening for a fatal disease.
Whiteside was a doctor studying tropical diseases at Miami Beach in 1982. He had not intended to become a doctor; instead, he had attended college to study environmental biology. After being accepted to Missouri’s medical school, he started a string of internships and residencies that eventually brought him to South Florida and the tropical illness profession.
He and a colleague developed the theory that HIV, the as-yet-unnamed virus that causes AIDS, is a tropical virus that has begun to infect and decimate gay communities in South Florida, San Francisco, and New York City.
In an interview with the Keys Weekly on November 25, Whiteside noted that it was actually our prelude to AIDS. He has been at the Key West and Monroe County commission meetings for the last week, where he received proclamations commemorating his 40-year retirement from the Monroe County Health Department.
Even before the disease had a name, my colleague Carolyn had created a screening program for it among at-risk individuals, mostly males who had sex with men. In order to determine if a patient was at low, medium, or high risk, we introduced our screening methodology to Key West in 1982. We also began early, advising patients about sexual behaviors that could allow the virus to enter the bloodstream.
He noted that the rest of the globe and medical professionals were frightened at the time.
However, Whiteside noted that the medical staff we experienced in Key West were some of the most sympathetic and caring people he had ever met.
In 1987, he relocated to Key West and partnered with Dr. Jerome Covington to establish an HIV/AIDS clinic at the Kennedy Drive dePoo Hospital.
It marked the beginning of a difficult and demanding two decades.
The last 20 years of my 40 years of working with HIV/AIDS have been fantastic, but the previous 20 years were terrible, very awful. He stated, “I never would have thought we’d make the advances we have now.” HIV is now comparable to any chronic illness. It cannot be eliminated, but it can be controlled, repressed, and tolerated.
Since the development of drugs known as highly active anti-retroviral therapy, or HAART, HIV can no longer be detected in the bloodstream of people on treatment.
Additionally, the most recent development, pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can stop HIV from infecting a person.
According to Whiteside, who shared the credit with other local HIV/AIDS physicians like Covington and Dr. Jerry Jackson, “because we have a smaller population and can keep track of our patients, we now have one of the best HIV suppression rates in the country down here in Key West.”
Whiteside has been at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic as well as the COVID, dengue, flu, H1N1, and Zika outbreaks.
Though he intends to continue his own study on chemical and electromagnetic pollution while pursuing his lifelong hobbies of birds and insects, he and his wife, Lilla, will remain in the Keys after his official retirement on January 31.
In addition to being one of the most well-known physicians in Key West, Mark Whiteside has made it his mission to educate people about the Florida Keys’ wildlife and birds. According to Mark Hedden, a birding columnist for Keys Weekly, education is one of the best methods to preserve wildlife. When I initially started birding, he served as my unofficial mentor and was always happy to answer any of my silly inquiries. In mid-February, he persuaded me to take a boat trip off the coast of North Carolina to search for birds. I nearly have forgiven him.
Born in the Midwest, Whiteside celebrated his 74th birthday in January.
I genuinely believe that the Florida Keys are the best spot for me to live and work.
Whiteside, who has served as the medical director of the county health department for the last 16 of his 40 years there, describes his career as a lengthy string of mishaps, particularly for someone who didn’t actually intend to become a doctor.
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