Fundraisers for the Institute said they hope totap government funds, foundations and privatedonors. Individual AIDS research projects arecurrently funded by specific grants, but theInstitute needs to raise its own money in order tobuild the new building and fund collectiveprograms.
John F. Ramsey, associate director of theBoston Foundation, the sole funder of the BostonAIDS Consortium, which combines policy and careissues, said that there has been a recent trendtoward giving to AIDS organizations and thatdonors would be attracted by a program like theInstitute.
"Public and private donors are looking for waysto coordinate giving for maximum impact," Ramseysaid. "Coordinated and effective programs buildconfidence in donor communities."
The Institute's work will include efforts toencourage AIDS-related research in the socialsciences and to connect those scholars with theclinical and biological research at SPH and theMed School.
Professor of Law Lance M. Liebman. who willcoordinate AIDS reasearch at the Law School, saidthat he has written about employment rights forpeople who have tested positive for AIDS. The LawSchool's contribution to the Institute willinclude work on legal discrimination and healthfinance issues.
Kleiman said that his research on how policydecisions can the number of people who contractAIDS would be greatly enhanced by closer ties toother researchers. "Reading the journals aboutAIDS is getting year-old research," he said. "Thecloser I am to the most updated research, the morelikely I am to make appropriate recommendationsabout [public] policies."
AIDS will become a major issue at the KennedySchool, Kleiman said, because the issuessurrounding AIDS involve every aspect of publicpolicy decision-making.
Johns Hopkins University announced the creationof an institute similar to Harvard's in December.The Hopkins institute, which connects research andclinical care, currently includes researchers whoare receiving $52 million in grants, with $30million more coming in over the next few years.
The Hopkins institute's provisional director,Professor of Neurology Richard H. Johnson, saidthat institute also has two policy boards whichconnect the researchers and convey their findingsto legislators at local, state and federal levels.Johnson said the Hopkins organizers have alsotried to coordinate grant proposals in order toconnect researchers in several fields, thus makingthe proposals more attractive. The coordinationalso helps to prevent Hopkins researchers fromsubmitting competing proposals, he said