The AIDS Institute was created in 1992 as a means of coordinating, facilitating and accelerating AIDS-related research at UCLA. Because of its outstanding faculty and the quality of their programs, the AIDS Institute has earned worldwide respect for innovative research and progressive programs. The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of AIDS-related programs at UCLA, and many of those programs have matured and borne fruit. This combination of rapid expansion and significant achievement calls for more proactive leadership as well as greater participation on the part of individual faculty, in order to further enhance HIV/AIDS research programs at UCLA.

To effect these goals—which were recommended by a series of task-force reports commissioned by the Institute in the first quarter of 2005—a restructuring of the AIDS Institute has been instituted. The original leadership of the AIDS Institute consisted of Associate Directors, each representing specific disciplines, and a 17-member Executive Committee. The new structure of the AIDS Institute consists of four Associate Directors who are charged with creating programs that forge collaborations among disciplines, rather than overseeing the activities of a specific discipline. In addition, multidisciplinary Program Areas are being formed, to encompass faculty from every part of the Institute. Each Program Area will be led by a Program Director (see Program Areas and Program Directors ).

The intent of this restructuring is to ensure an even more streamlined and proactive top leadership while providing greater opportunities for all faculty members to participate in Institute programs and assume leadership roles. Through this new structure the UCLA AIDS Institute will be well positioned to build upon its existing strengths and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise—with the ultimate objective of eliminating the threat of HIV/AIDS within our lifetimes.