Willo Pequegnat & Ellen Stover 
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A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists

The Department of Health and Human Services has identified Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) as the foremost public health problem in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that, as of December 31, 1994, there were 441, 528 documented cases of AIDS in this country, and the number is increasing. AIDS is an illness characterized by a defect in natural immunity against disease. Many more individuals are known to be infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) but do not have symptoms or the defming characteristics of AIDS. The incubation period for AIDS may range from 1 to 10 or more years in adults and 6 months to several years in children. Infected persons appear to be capable of transmitting infection indefinitely, even if they remain asymptomatic. In order to increase the number of minority investigators conducting research on HIV infection and 1 AIDS, NIMH conducted a 3h-day technical workshop for minority investigators on July 24-27. 1990, in Fairlakes, Virginia. University-based research programs were asked to nominate investigators who were selected on the basis of a referred 1 0-page prospectus for a proposed research project. This procedure was used because NIMH wanted to be sure that the prospective investigators were established in a research environment that would pr