January:
HIV vaccine papers in Nature by Merck’s Emilio Emini, Harvard’s Dan Barouch.
February:
First ATAC (AIDS Treatment Activist Conference) teach-in, Seattle (seventy people attend), followed by ATAC/BMS meeting and Retrovirus conference. NIH cancels large phase III canarypox HIV vaccine trial.
March:
Radiologist Elias Zerhouni nominated as NIH Director. TAG meetings at OAR, NIH. 3rd International STI Workshop, Montréal.
April:
Meeting on Roche/Trimeris HIV fusion inhibitor, T-20 (Chicago). TAG meets UNAIDS director Peter Piot, is critical of slow-moving UN system.
Indian PWA/activist Ashok Pillai dies of toxoplasmosis, a preventable disease.
New York City artist/activist Frank Moore dies of aspergillosis.
Global Fund announces first awards. TAG’s Mark Harrington meets with UNAIDS and WHO in Geneva.
May:
WHO releases first “Guidelines for Antiretroviral Therapy in Resource-Poor Settings.” Yvette Delph starts working for Social and Scientific Systems in Silver Springs, MD. DC meeting with World Bank to discuss treatment preparedness.
Activist Linda Grinberg dies in Los Angeles.
June:
TAG attends 4th World TB Congress in Washington, DC, and convenes steering committee of TAG’s planned TB/HIV workshop. Michael Marco leaves TAG for Social and Scientific Systems. Jack Whitescarver becomes OAR Director. Mark attends US AIDS leadership summit in Washington, DC.
July:
Activists disrupt HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson’s speech at Barcelona AIDS conference to protest the Bush administration’s underfunding of domestic and global AIDS programs. First meeting of International Treatment Preparedness coalition.
Memorial gathering for Linda Grinberg. ATAC/Community Constituency Group (CCG) training. OAR grants $87,750 for TB/HIV workshop.
August:
Meeting on Roche’s Pegasys pegylated interferon for hepatitis C, Nutley, NJ. Washington Post covers administration “witch-hunt” against groups involved in July’s Thompson demo. Mark attends WHO scale-up meeting in Geneva. Richard Jefferys and Mark attend STI (Structured Treatment Interruptions) roundtable, Chicago.
September:
TAG hires Will Berger as administrator. Summit of national/regional AIDS leaders, Washington, DC Yet another WHO scale-up meeting in Geneva. Completion of “STI Workshop Report 2002,” by Richard Jefferys.
October:
TAG holds first TB/HIV Coinfection Education and Community Mobilization Workshop in Montréal before 33rd International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUATLD) conference. Eighteen activists from developing countries attend. TAG meets USAID on treatment preparedness. AIDS leaders, including Mark Harrington, meet with Secretary Thompson at HHS and with White House AIDS staff.
November:
Roche/Trimeris T-20 (Fuzeon) meeting, NYC. HIV superinfection paper by Marcus Altfeld and Bruce Walker appears in Nature.
December:
6th TAG Research in Action Awards (RIAA) honor community activist Gene Falk, New York Newsday journalist Laurie Garrett, Cornell virologist John Moore and TAG founding director Peter Staley.