Mike and Elias Zerhouni, president of Global R&D, Sanofi (center), joke with Earvin "Magic" Johnson at the Celebration of Science in September. Johnson participated in the Celebration of Science to underscore the importance of funding medical research and the progress made in treating AIDS and HIV-positive patients: in 1991 when Johnson was diagnosed with HIV, the disease was thought of as a death sentence. Today, the life expectancy of an AIDS patient exceeds 20 years, and Timothy Brown, the Berlin Patient (who also attended the conference), is the first person cured of AIDS.