On May 25, 2000, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced funding of nine U.S. clinical units of the new HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). The HVTN, expected to be fully established within a month, provided a comprehensive, clinically based network to develop and test preventive HIV vaccines.

NIAID provided over $29 million for the first year of the HVTN. The Network’s Clinical Research Sites were located at leading research institutions in over 30 cities on five continents. The Network’s headquarters are at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.