Fred Hutch is a longtime leader in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Our research on prevention, treatment and potential cures includes active studies and statistical assistance to studies in countries on five continents. We use our expertise in virology and immunology to investigate HIV at the molecular level, with the goal of identifying events that lead to infection and transmission and to understand the complex relationship between HIV and the immune system.

The Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC), based at Fred Hutch, works with HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a more integrated, collaborative and flexible research structure to develop safe and effective drugs, prevention strategies, and vaccines.

We are home to the Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention, or SCHARP. SCHARP helps researchers worldwide and is staffed by experts in clinical and laboratory data management, programming and statistics.

Fred Hutch hosts defeatHIV, a multi-institutional consortium focused on cell and gene therapy approaches to eliminate HIV from reservoirs of latently infected cells. HIV in these reservoirs reactivates if patients stop taking antiviral drugs.

Our researchers play key roles in several large-scale networks dedicated to the elimination of HIV/AIDS. They include the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is based at Fred Hutch. HVTN is the world’s largest publicly funded international collaboration conducting clinical trials of HIV vaccines, with thousands of participants joining every year.

To ensure that diverse communities are included in HIV/AIDS research and that their cultures are respected, HVTN and defeatHIV work with community advisory boards — organizations that help community members understand HIV/AIDS science and engage with our researchers in the planning and implementation of trials.

We provide our communities with workshops and ongoing educational programs on equity and anti-oppression issues. We also develop case studies on ways to increase participation in vaccine trials, reduce disparities and improve the recruitment, retention and training of ethnic minorities.

For more information about HIV prevention trials, see the HVTN website descriptions of ongoing clinical studies, specific trial protocols and — in the Seattle area — studies that are currently enrolling participants at the Seattle Vaccine Trials Unit.

