Studies of HIV and AIDS in women can play a unique role in testing new biological or socio-behavioral hypotheses at the population level and in linking basic science findings and laboratory methods to well-defined populations and communities. Research areas that are likely to draw more attention in the near future will include the study of pathogenicity and transmissibility of different HIV subtypes or recombinant forms and their interaction with variably susceptible individuals; the change in the scope of HIV natural history studies in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy; and the contribution of such studies to the design of a wide spectrum of prevention modalities (e.g., prevention of HIV and prevention of opportunistic infections). In addition, studies of natural history of HIV-related malignancies and active surveillance of malignancies in HIV infected and high-risk uninfected women may lead to new screening and prevention modalities in high-risk populations of women.