William Bonnez MBH, MSc, MD

William Bonnez, M.D., began his research on human papillomaviruses (HPV) in the early 1980s as an infectious disease fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center. At first, cancer was not a concern. He and his then supervisor, Richard Reichman, M.D., were interested in HPV as a cause of genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease. They were looking for a blood test that would detect the infection, gauge its severity, and perhaps reveal how the body contains the infection.

At the time, researchers were just beginning to recognize HPV as a possible cause of cervical cancer. As evidence of HPV’s role grew, Bonnez, Reichman, and later, a third colleague, Robert Rose, Ph.D., saw the potential to address not just genital warts but also to prevent an infection that could lead to cancer.

In 1986, Bonnez was awarded a Wilmot Cancer Research Fellowship to continue his research on HPV. This fellowship, established in 1982 by late businessman and philanthropist James P. Wilmot, is awarded to physicians who had completed their training and are on the cusp of their research careers.