(38980) Gaoyaojie = 2000 UJ2 Gao yao-jie (b. 1927), a retired medical doctor, was a pioneer on AIDS prevention in China. In 2001 she won the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Recently she received the Vital Voices Global Partnership award.
A complete set of naming citations of the numbered minor planets is available in the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, edited by Lutz Schmadel.