[Letter from David D. Ho]

OCT. 23.1996 505PM INST. HUMAN VIROLOGY/DR. GALLO VU.&k r._9 g.,..: "r, G, t t
THE AARON DIAMOND AIDS RESEARCH CENTsER
AFFILIATE OF ThE ROCKEPELLER UNIVERSTY
DAVID D. 10, M.D. 4s5 FIRST AVENUE
DIRECTOR NBW YORK, NY, 10010
TEL: [phone]
PROFESSOR, FAX; (212) 72S"1126
TIHE ROCKEFSLLER UI4IVERSITY S-MAWclahoda'c,org
September 22', 1996
Last month, scientists from my lab, the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, published
data showing a defective gene, If inherited from both parents, can protect a person from
being infected by HIV.
This discovery may transform AIDS research, leading the way to a new understanding of
how some people elude infection with HIV, while others develop the disease rapidly, and
how still others appear to be long-term survivors of HIV infection. It could pave the way
for new drug and vaccine strategies in the future. (Please see the attached editorial from
The New York Times).
But the road to this discovery was arduous.
I am writing today to ask for your continued support of a small band of emart, tough,
dedicated community activists who, with your help, have paved the way for this and many
of the other revolutionary AIDS research breakthroughs of 1996 - the Treatment Action
Group (TAG).
Five years ago, AIDS research was in a bad way. Scientists were demoralized. Funding
was scarce. Programs were unfocused. The first generation of drugs weren't lasting very
long, and the first generation of vaccines were Ineffective. Fundamental questions
weren't being addressed.
Shortly after I came to New York as the director of the Diamond Center, I began meeting
with Gregg Gonsalves and Mark Harrington, who became TAG's two policy directors,

about the obstacles facing AIDS researchers. They were interested in long-term
survivors, because they knew several. They asked me why more wasn't being done to
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