SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego Center for AIDS Research at UC San Diego has received a five-year, $15.45 million grant, renewing support that extends back to an original establishing grant in 1994.
The funds come from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The Center for AIDS Research was "established by the NIAID as a regional, collaborative, front- line hub for studying HIV," bringing together multiple partners, including The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, San Diego State University and local health agencies and community groups.
"The grant renewal represents NIAID's continued and enduring investment in our mission to be a critical regional resource in HIV research and education, to advance the discovery and development of new treatments, and ultimately to find a cure for HIV," said Dr. Davey Smith, the grant's principal investigator and a co-director with Dr. Douglas Richman, professor of pathology and medicine at UCSD School of Medicine.
In 1994, AIDS would become the leading cause of death for all Americans ages 25 to 44, with the death toll reaching its all-time annual high of 48,371 in 1995.
Richman was a founding member of the SD CFAR in 1994. In 1981, he had been an assistant professor operating a diagnostic virology lab at UCSD School of Medicine. He saw many of the first cases of HIV/AIDS.
"Those early years were hard," said Richman. "There were no treatments for HIV itself and therapies for infections that complicated AIDS were difficult and often ineffective.
"We were well-situated to help make a difference: the front door to the Pacific Rim, Central and South America, with a large military presence, the busiest land border crossing in the Western hemisphere and at the epicenter of one of the highest HIV burden areas," he said.
At UC San Diego, the Center for AIDS Research is part of a larger coalition under the umbrella of The HIV Institute.
"A lot has changed since HIV/AIDS first emerged, especially in the last several years," Smith said. "We haven't yet found a cure, but there are now effective treatments capable of reducing AIDS to the status of a chronic but manageable condition, not unlike diabetes or hypertension.
"Thanks to work at places like CFAR and elsewhere, the mortality rate for AIDS is a shadow of what it once was," he said.
HIV/AIDS remains persistent. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.5 million people worldwide acquired the disease in 2021 and 650,000 died. The World Health Organization estimates more than 38 million persons worldwide are living with HIV.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control estimates 1.2 million people have HIV, with roughly 13% unaware of their infections. Around 34,800 new HIV infections occurred in the U.S. in 2019. In 2020, that number decreased 17%, a decline the researchers said was likely due to the COVID-19 impact on prevention, testing and care-related services.
