Letting HIV transform academia--embracing implementation science.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has had an extraordinary global impact. Even as it has devastated societies, it has also inspired community empowerment, motivated impressive scientific discoveries, and provoked an unprecedented mobilization of vast resources for a single health condition. Not yet fully realized, however, is the epidemic's potential for expanding the core mission of academic institutions to include the pursuit of a wider range of research. Most universities focus on three core missions: transmitting knowledge to undergraduate students, developing the next generation of scholars through graduate education, and producing new discoveries through research. In both education and research, . . .