Robert T. Ball Jr. is a public health and infectious disease specialist who discovered the first case of AIDS in South Carolina.
Ball was drafted during the Vietnam War and sent to work at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center for two years.
In 1987 he was forced to sell his practice and leave Charleston for Columbia, South Carolina where he earned a Master's degree in Public Health.
[1] While working for the Department of Health and Environmental Control, Ball led a state task force, creating the South Carolina Ryan White Care Act which provided service and care for South Carolina patients with AIDS.
[3][1] Despite retiring from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) in 2012, Ball continues to be active in the state's response to COVID-19.