Under this program a relatively large amount of money was granted to academic scientists provided that their laboratory have a pharmaceutical or biotechnology partner capable of translating knew knowledge to new drugs. The majority of the funds of these grants went to the industry partner to encourage the development of new drug research activities. These co-operative drug development grants led directly to the discovery of the protease inhibitors that changed the course of HIV/AIDS treatment and later to drugs that effectively target the integrase and envelope proteins. By 1992, only ten years after the AIDS virus was first recognized, the institutions that today guide HIV/AIDS research were created and still endure. In the early days of the epidemic Haseltine recognized a two-fold problem in public perception. Many, both within and outside of the scientific/medical community, did not believe the epidemic would ever pose a serious threat to populations. Others believed that AIDS patients posed an immediate threat of infection and must avoided. To address this issue Haseltine help to create and guide several different groups. One of the most successful of these was the American Foundation of AIDS Research. Haseltine became the first chairman of the scientific advisory board of AMFAR. The mission was twofold: to make start up grants available for those wishing to begin work on HIV/AIDS and to de-stigmatize HIV/AIDS. Many of today's leaders of HIV/AIDS received their first support from AMFAR. The second goal was to provide a body of scientific and medical experts willing to speak out about the danger and magnitude of the epidemic and to provide a credible reference for those worried about causal transmission- in others words, a group of qualified experts to speak about the real dangers of the disease and to counter unjustified fears. AMFAR continues in this role today. Haseltine also worked internationally on these issues of public perception. He became an advisor to the AIDS Crisis Trust in Great Britain, a group that worked closely with Princess Diana. Perhaps more than any other person, Princess Diana served to de-stigmatize those with the disease and to defuse fear through her willingness to hug adults AIDS patients and hold AIDS infants. For a time Haseltine also worked with L.I.F.E., a group founded by the designer Valentino to combat HIV prejudice. From 1986 to 1990 Haseltine appeared on many radio and television programs both in and outside the US to warn of the dangers of the epidemic and to de-stigmatize the disease. William Haseltine has also had an active career in biotechnology.