The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) was established in 1936 by the Rockefeller Foundation as the Yellow Fever Research Institute.[1][3] Between 1936 and 1972, he isolated 124 strains of viruses and 24 new viruses, including Chikungunya, O'nyong'nyong, Zika, West Nile, Bunyamwera, Bwamba, and Sindbis.[1][2] In 1942, it became a key distribution center for yellow fever vaccines in Africa and the Middle East.[1] In 1950 it was renamed the East African Virus Research Institute and designated as the WHO Regional Center for Arboviruses.[1][3] After the breakup of the East African Community in 1977, it acquired the current name Uganda Virus Research Institute.[1][3] In 1987, it started HIV research and became a reference laboratory for HIV diagnosis and monitoring.[1] Today it serves as a national and regional reference center for vector-borne viral diseases, a WHO laboratory for influenza, yellow fever, measles, rubella and polio.[1][2]