Thirty years into the fight against HIV/AIDS, UCSF has helped change the course of this deadly disease, which has claimed the lives of 33 million people worldwide. This timeline covers highlights over the past three decades at UCSF, in the nation and around the world.

For the past 30 years, UCSF has been a leader in AIDS basic and clinical research, patient care, policy development and community and global outreach, efforts that were among the first in the nation in response to the epidemic. 

Thanks to life-saving treatment, in a few years most people in the United States living with the AIDS virus, HIV, will be more than 50 years old. But even among the successfully treated, HIV, is associated with chronic inflammation, and higher rates of chronic diseases of aging. Inflammation may be a driver of aging, some scientists believe, and HIV patients may be vulnerable to accelerated aging as a result.

The first conference of its kind in Uganda drew together investigators from across all of sub-Saharan Africa to discuss leading-edge problems in the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of fostering meaningful collaborations to combat the disease.

As one of the preeminent biomedical education and health sciences research institutions in the world, UCSF emerged early as a pioneer in the fight against AIDS. Today, three decades later, UCSF is working on multiple fronts to prevent, treat and stop the spread of the disease that has killed 33 million people worldwide.

Preventing transmission to partners or children is key to this curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic and researchers report t exciting new tools and tactics employed in the now 30-year war against the disease.

Laurence Huang, MD, a professor of medicine in the HIV/AIDS Division, will give a lecture titled “30 Years of PCP in HIV/AIDS: Past, Present, Future” at San Francisco General Hospital from noon until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7.

In a bold demonstration of support for children fighting cancer, several UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital doctors and staff will have their heads shaved bald at a special event to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research.