40 years later, the Pitt Men's Study is still breaking ground in the fight against AIDS

In 1984, Charles Rinaldo launched a study to learn more about a mysterious illness befalling gay men across the U.S. He was 37 years old, only 6 years into his appointment as an assistant professor in the Pitt School of Medicine and School of Public Health, when he put the University on the map for groundbreaking AIDS research.

With the backing of a $4.2 million, four-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract, Rinaldo set out to recruit several thousands of gay men in the Pittsburgh tristate area to donate blood and other clinical specimens. It was the beginning of the Pitt Men’s Study, which aimed to uncover the process by which a virus leads to AIDS and the development of the disease post-diagnosis.

The Pitt Men’s Study recently commemorated 40 years of trailblazing research, including contributions to more than 1,700 scientific articles. The study is behind breakthroughs in understanding the transmission and treatment of HIV and AIDS and continues to impact the lives and careers of study participants and scientists alike.

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