Foundation Timeline
The Foundation that began as three mothers began around a kitchen table in 1988 is now the leading global nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating pediatric HIV and AIDS. Browse this timeline to learn how it happened.
1981
Elizabeth Glaser contracts HIV through a blood transfusion during childbirth. Elizabeth and her husband, Paul Glaser, later learn that she unknowingly passed the virus to her children, Ariel and Jake.
1988
The Pediatric AIDS Foundation is created by Elizabeth and her two friends, Susie Zeegen and Susan DeLaurentis, after Ariel loses her battle with AIDS at age 7. Their goal: Give hope to children and families affected by HIV and AIDS.
1990
Elizabeth and Paul Glaser ask the U.S. Congress to provide funding to test HIV drugs in children. While AZT, a promising drug treatment, had already been approved by the FDA, its potential impact on children was still unknown due to a lack of research.
1991
Professional basketball player Earvin “Magic” Johnson announces he has HIV and retires from the NBA. He credits Elizabeth Glaser with giving him the courage to speak out.
1994
Elizabeth Glaser passes away from AIDS-related illnesses. It would take another nine years, but her vision for pediatric drug research would become a reality in 2003, when the U.S. Congress passes the Pediatric Research Equity Act. This new law dramatically increases the number of drugs tested and labeled for use
in children.
1999
The Foundation enters the global AIDS arena by beginning work to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in six countries.
2003
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is launched, allowing the Foundation’s global work and reach to expand. Four years later, more than 25 percent of all HIV-positive pregnant women worldwide who receive medicine to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies do so through Foundation-supported
programs.
2005
Jake Glaser, today a Foundation spokesperson and healthy young adult, celebrates his 21st birthday.
2008
The Foundation helps renew the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, authorizing $48 billion in global health programs.
2009
To mark its 20th anniversary, the Foundation launches Join the Moment, a new effort to create a generation free of HIV.
2012
The Foundation is currently supporting more than 5,900 sites around the world. Since the Foundation's international efforts began, Foundation-supported programs have reached more than 13.6 million women with services to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies; tested nearly 12 million women for HIV; enrolled more than 1.4 million individuals, including nearly 110,000 children, into HIV care and support programs; and started more than 780,000 individuals, including more than 60,000 children, on antiretroviral treatment.
(data through September 30, 2011).