The society was formally founded following a meeting of 40 prominent virology researchers at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago in spring 1981 and held its first official annual meeting in summer 1982 at Cornell University, by which time its membership had reached almost 1,000 scientists.
The society was formally founded following a meeting of 40 prominent virology researchers at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on June 9,1981. Its first official annual meeting took place at Cornell University in August 1982, by which time its membership had reached almost 1,000 scientists.