Campbell Foundation teams with amfAR for its "Countdown to a Cure"
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., September 8, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The Campbell Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is partnering with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, in its fundraising efforts for the organization’s Countdown to a Cure for HIV/AIDS.
In February, amfAR announced the launch of Countdown to a Cure, a research initiative aimed at developing the scientific basis for a cure for HIV by 2020. The goal is to invest $100 million in HIV cure research over the next six years.
"This is a very unique and welcome opportunity to once again allow The Campbell Foundation to be involved in groundbreaking, novel HIV research projects at some of the best laboratories in the world."
Ken Rapkin, Program Officer, Campbell Foundation
The Campbell Foundation is providing amfAR with a $50,000 matching grant to be used entirely to fund directed, cure-focused HIV/AIDS research and to inspire other donors to give, resulting in up to $100,000 in funds through matching grant money.
“This is a very unique and welcome opportunity to once again allow The Campbell Foundation to be involved in groundbreaking, novel HIV research projects at some of the best laboratories in the world,” said Campbell Foundation Program Officer Ken Rapkin. “Although researchers have made great strides toward finding a cure, there is still much work that needs to be done. We are excited about the opportunity to make the dream of finding a cure a reality.”
amfAR has created a “roadmap” that focuses on four key challenges to curing HIV:
· Charting the precise locations in the body of reservoirs where infected cells reside and thrive, despite treatment with drug therapies
· Understanding how HIV persists within them
· Recording how much virus the reservoirs hold
· Eliminating the virus
amfAR’s directed research model is designed to shorten the time it takes to solve the final questions related to HIV eradication, by investing in targeted projects that will bring us closer to a cure.
“A decade ago, curing HIV was thought by many, if not most, in the scientific community to be impossible,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. “But the science has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years, to the extent that there is now widespread agreement among researchers that a cure for HIV is possible—and even probable.”
In 2011, The Campbell Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to amfAR for its ARCHE Program. That program funded collaborative teams of HIV researchers at prestigious institutions worldwide who conducted innovative, cure-focused studies.
“As a past supporter of ARCHE, we believe The Campbell Foundation is an ideal partner for amfAR as it ramps up its fundraising efforts for Countdown to a Cure,” said Rapkin.
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About The Campbell Foundation
The Campbell Foundation was established in 1995 by the late Richard Campbell Zahn as a private, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting clinical, laboratory-based research into the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. It focuses its funding on supporting alternative, nontraditional avenues of research. In its 19th year, the Campbell Foundation has given away over $9 million dollars, with about $1 million going to direct services. For more information visit us at: www.campbellfoundation.net
About amfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $388 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 3,300 research teams worldwide. To learn more, visit us at www.amfar.org.