Institute of Human Virology (IHV) | University of Maryland

The Institute of Human Virology (IHV) is the first center in the United States - perhaps the world - to combine the disciplines of basic science, epidemiology and clinical research in a concerted effort to speed the discovery of diagnostics and therapeutics for a wide variety of chronic and deadly viral and immune disorders - most notably HIV, the cause of AIDS.

IHV's more than 300 employees include more than 80 faculty whose research efforts are focused in the area of chronic human viral infection and disease. At present, more than 75 percent of the Institute's clinical and research effort is targeted at HIV infection, but also includes hepatitis C virus, human T cell leukemia viruses 1 and 2, human papillomavirus, herpes viruses and cancer research. IHV’s patient base has grown from just 200 patients to approximately 6,000 in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and more than 1.3 million in African and Caribbean nations. In particular, IHV is internationally renowned for its basic science and vaccine research, which includes a preventive HIV vaccine candidate in human clinical trials and funded largely by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.