HIV cure went from something considered virtually impossible to something that has actually happened. What remains is understanding why it happened in these rare cases, and how safe, scalable cure strategies could reach many more people.
In 2009 Timothy Ray Brown became the first person in the world to be cured of HIV. His case transformed HIV research by demonstrating, for the first time, that a cure was biologically possible. His experience continues to shape the questions cure researchers are asking today.
“I want everyone with HIV to be cured.” Timothy Ray Brown
Thomas Kahlert is the second Berlin Patient. In 2025 he became one of the small number of people worldwide to have achieved sustained HIV remission following treatment for another serious illness. By choosing to share his experience publicly, Thomas brings the human reality of HIV cure research into the work of BeCURE.
“A healthy person has many wishes; a sick person just one.” Thomas Kahlert
Our clinical research unit carries the names of Timothy Ray Brown and Thomas Kahlert to honor their stories and make them a lasting part of this institution.
Cure research only works when the laboratory and the people affected are part of the same conversation. These five areas are how BeCURE keeps them together.
A few examples from the current funding portfolio, so that a contribution can be read as a decision about which work becomes possible.
Any amount goes into the research program through the Charité donation system.
Donate→For foundations, companies, major donors and partners. We share the full funding portfolio and talk through what fits.
Write to us→The Community Collaboration Board sits inside how BeCURE works, not beside it. People living with HIV help decide what gets studied and how studies are run.
Research about people's lives should be shaped by the people whose lives it is about.
With BeCURE, Charité is establishing an interdisciplinary and translational center for researching and developing innovative approaches to curing HIV and other chronic viral infections. The opening brings together representatives from science, the HIV community, politics, the press and funding institutions.