suggests active leadership among the institute staff in encouraging investigations of specific AIDS-related topics. This kind of leadership may be more necessary in a new research field, such as AIDS, since investigators must be recruited who have been establishing careers in other, related areas of science.

NIAAA first began funding AIDS research in FY 1987 (Figure 6.4). AIDS was just under 3 percent of the total NIAAA budget that year, and rose to 5 percent in FY 1988. Since then, AIDS funding increased 233 percent, from $2.4 million in FY 1987 to $8 million in FY 1992 (Figure 6.5). Total NIAAA funding (AIDS and non-AIDS) grew from $83.4 million in FY 1987 to $171.5 million in FY 1992—a 106 percent increase.

NIAAA's AIDS program supports research exploring the role of alcohol as a potential biological and psychosocial factor in the transmission of HIV infection and its progression to AIDS. Specifically, NIAAA's portfolio includes studies examining the relationship between alcohol and the immune system, and studies to

FIGURE 6.4 NIAAA Expenditures (AIDS/Non-AIDS), 1983–1993.

*Estimate. Source: NIAAA Budget Office.