Poiesz said he thinks previous controversy over Gallo's role in the HIV discovery might have hurt his chances at being named a Nobel laureate.
"I don't think that cast a favorable light on things," he said. "I think that created concern on a lot of people's minds about whether the French were given the appropriate credit for the discovery."
Rules state that only three people can share the prize, which is worth $1.4 million and will be awarded in December in Sweden.
FOR THE RECORD - Because of an editing error, an article in yesterday's editions incorrectly said that Dr. Robert C. Gallo's Institute of Human Virology is part of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. It is part of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
"It's unfortunate they could only give the award to three people," Fauci said. "If they were able to give it to four people, one could make a very strong argument that Bob Gallo would be in that group."
Timeline of AIDS discoveries
1981: U.S. Centers for Disease Control report finding a rare pneumonia in young gay men.
1982: Disease previously called "gay cancer" is named AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) by CDC scientists.
1983: Dr. Luc Montagnier and his team at the Pasteur Institute in Paris report discovery of virus they call LAV.
1984: U.S. health secretary announces that Dr. Robert C. Gallo has discovered the probable cause of AIDS, a virus the American scientist's team calls HTLV-3.
1986: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, is adopted as the name for LAV and HTLV-3.
1987: AZT becomes available to treat people with HIV.
Source: News accounts
