The NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) is located within the Office of the Director of NIH and is responsible for the scientific, budgetary, legislative, and policy elements of the NIH AIDS research program. Areas of program emphasis include:

• Natural History and Epidemiology
• Therapeutics
• Vaccines
• HIV Prevention Research

The OAR Advisory Council was established by law to provide expert advice to the Director of OAR. The Council is composed of non-government experts from a broad array of scientific disciplines as well as AIDS community representatives.