The Clinical Core of the UAB CFAR was established in 1988 to provide a bridge between the patients attending the newly established AIDS Outpatient Clinic (The UAB 1917 Clinic) and the investigative activities of the basic scientists working in the laboratories in the expanding UAB AIDS Center. Over the 20 years since inception, the Clinical Core has expanded and diversified to meet the needs of the overall AIDS research program at UAB.

The current CFAR membership has more than tripled since those earliest years, and the users of Clinical Core services have increased substantially both within the institution, in collaboration with other US institutions and CFARs, and around the world. Despite the growth and changes in the research program over the intervening decades, the three targeted service areas—the Specimen Repository, the Database, and the Clinical Research Training—were key components of the Clinical Core from the beginning, and remain as vital to the future of HIV research.

The specific aims of the core include:

1. To provide a comprehensive and efficient Specimen Repository obtained from well-characterized patients for collaborative investigations involving multiple research disciplines.

2. To provide a Computerized Database and Informatics Service with the leadership and expertise to store and access complex, interactive data, to assist with study design, and to conduct appropriate data analysis.

3. To establish new methods and technologies to make clinical samples more readily accessible to CFAR members.

4. To provide and coordinate Clinical Research Training Services at all levels (from students to research staff representing a variety of disciplines to seasoned faculty updating their skills).