Twenty years of information,
advocacy and inspiration—1992

Project Inform achievements (1985–2004)     View PDF

Project Inform milestones:

• Launched a major campaign to increase the amount of funding directed to AIDS research at NIH. Press materials, direct lobbying, and monitoring the appropriations process along with our partners led President Clinton to increase AIDS research funding by more than $200 million in his first term, and significant increases in AIDS research over the next several years.
• Held the first fully Project Inform-sponsored meeting of the Immune Restoration Think Tank (IRTT) in Washington, DC to create a research agenda for restoring immunity lost due to HIV-infection. The meeting developed short- and long-term research goals and action plans. Subsequent meetings have further developed these plans and continued to explore novel ideas and approaches. Numerous new research studies and collaborations have been initiated as a result of these meetings.
• Co-hosted “Future Directions in AIDS Research,” along with the Harvard AIDS Institute and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This event brought together leading scientists, researchers, policy makers, and activists to discuss current opportunities and challenges in structural reforms and proposed new ways of organizing the scientific effort on a national basis. Some streamlined approaches to the coordination of basic and clinical research grew out of this process.

Epidemic milestones:

• 8th International AIDS Conference (“A World United Against AIDS”), is held in Amsterdam; would have taken place in Boston, but was moved due to U.S. immigration ban.
• International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) is founded.
• AIDS becomes the leading cause of death among American men between 25 and 44 and the fourth leading cause for women in the same age group. Disproportionately high rates of new HIV infections among African American women become headline news.
• Mary Fisher and Bob Hattoy, each HIV-positive, address the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, respectively.
• Tennis star Arthur Ashe announces he has AIDS.
• Zalcitabine (ddC/Hivid) approved for use.