Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the course of American health research was increasingly shaped by politically,aggressive activism for two particular diseases, breast cancer and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Even as national stakes rose, both in dollars spent and grow, ing demands on the medical system, breast cancer and AIDS advocates made government policy-making for research ever more public and con, croversial. Through skillful cultivation of political strength, interest groups transformed individual health problems into collective demands, winning notable policy influence in federal agencies such as the National lnsti, cutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Activ· ists directly challenged fundamental principles of both government and medical systems, fighting to affect distribution of research funds and ques, tioning well-established scientific methods and professional values. In the contest for decision-making power, those players achieved remarkable success in influencing and infiltrating (some critics said, undermining) both the politics and science of medical research. Between 1990 and 1995, federal appropriations for breast cancer study rose from $90 million to $465 million, while in that same period, NIH AIDS research rose from $743.53 million to $1.338 billion.