Positive Thoughts – Viral Basics: Understanding the importance of basic HIV research and clinical trials – and the benefits of being undetectable

Carl W. Dieffenbach, PhD, is director of the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He oversees a staff of more than 150 federal employees and a global HIV research portfolio of more than $1 billion.

Dieffenbach is responsible for managing DAIDS programs, which include basic laboratory research and clinical trials to develop therapies to treat HIV and related infections and diseases, as well as to develop vaccines, microbicides and other HIV prevention strategies. He has restructured the DAIDS-supported clinical trials research network and has fostered collaboration across agencies and sectors.

Dieffenbach became DAIDS director in 2008. Previously, he was director of the DAIDS Basic Sciences Program since 1996. He joined DAIDS in 1992 as chief of the preclinical therapeutics group.

CD: Think about the unanswered questions about HIV today. What does it take to get a safe, effective and durable HIV vaccine? What does it take to cure HIV infection? What is it we don’t understand about why there is residual immune activation after effective HIV therapy? Those are the types of primary questions that DAIDS is supporting research to address domestically and internationally.