About the AVRC

UC San Diego AntiViral Research Center


In 1986, when the UC San Diego AntiViral Research Center (AVRC) was founded, being diagnosed with HIV infection meant progressing to an AIDS diagnosis and developing opportunistic infections that were only manageable for a short time, if at all. The death toll climbed and there were no treatments. People with AIDS looked to research for hope, but there was little to offer.

In response to this need, Drs. Douglas Richman, J. Allen McCutchan, and Stephen Spector founded the UC San Diego Treatment Center, as the AVRC was then called. These physicians represented the first HIV and AIDS researchers at UCSD, paving the way for the foundation of an organized research unit at the university dedicated solely to the study of HIV and AIDS.