A physician who was one of the first in the United States to recognize the appearance of the AIDS epidemic, LJL graduated from Barnard College and New York University Medical School. Her specialties were hematology and oncology, and she was a clinical professor at the New York University Medical Center. The author (with Dr. Alvin Friedman-Kien) of the first published article on the alarming appearance of Kaposi's sarcoma, LJL was outspoken about what she saw as the neglect of the epidemic by government and society. Her practice grew to consist predominately of AIDS cases; in 1983 she helped organize the Kaposi's Sarcoma Research Fund and the first full-scale medical conference on AIDS, held at New York University. She was one of the founders of MTS, Multitasking Systems, a non-profit office-service business begun in 1989 that provided employment for people with AIDS. LJL suffered from severe asthma and the effects of childhood polio, which left her confined to a wheelchair. Her role in the battle against AIDS inspired the character of Dr. Emma Brookner in Larry Kramer's play, The Normal Heart . LJL died of a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 45.
From the guide to the Papers, 1947-1993, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)
