BACKGROUND: Despite significant advances in HIV research, treatment, and prevention, Georgia is experiencing a raging epidemic. The Atlanta metropolitan area contains almost two-thirds of the state’s diagnosed cases of HIV. It is also home to the federally-funded Emory University Center for AIDS Research (Emory CFAR), which invests heavily into the careers of early stage investigators who are ready to enter HIV/AIDS research field. OBJECTIVE: The main goal of this project was to analyze the impact of Emory CFAR Developmental Core services on institutional efforts to recruit early stage investigators (ESIs) into the field of HIV research and develop their careers, increase AIDS-designated grant funding, and promote public knowledge about the HIV epidemic. Specifically, it looked at the Emory CFAR’s investment into the careers of ESIs through several Developmental Core grant mechanisms, as well as the impact of this investment from three perspectives: global, organizational, and personal. METHOD: Global impact was evaluated by first indexing all ESI-authored publications that resulted from research supported by Emory CFAR Developmental Core funding. Then, journal impact factors were calculated and analyzed to determine if these publications appear in respected journals. Organizational impact was assessed by looking at the total CFAR investment into ESIs via various Developmental Core mechanisms, determining the total amount of new extramural funding to the University that resulted from these investments, and then calculating the return on investment (ROI). To evaluate personal impact, a short survey was distributed to all the Developmental Core awardees that are still at Emory University. RESULTS: The analysis of publications showed that Developmental Core awardees do publish in peer-reviewed journals, both open access and traditional, with respectful impact factors. ROI analysis showed that the activities of the Emory CFAR Developmental Core impact the university’s fiscal portfolio. ESIs reported receiving new grants resulting from their CFAR Developmental Core award. Depending on the award mechanism, ROI ranged from about 100% to over 6000%. Even though an 84% response rate was achieved, there were not enough data to determine the personal impact-specifically, if receipt of a Developmental Core award impacted the age of ESIs when they received their first R01 grant. However, the survey did uncover additional benefits of CFAR Developmental Core services for ESIs. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the activities of the Emory CFAR Developmental Core were found to have three separate impacts: global, organizational, and personal. Findings also support previous studies that addressed the need for similar faculty development programs. This analysis is the first of its kind. While methods would need to be modified to fit local CFAR mechanisms, this project developed a framework that can be used by other CFARs to evaluate the impact of their Developmental Core services. Results also can be used by Core leadership to make decisions about services that should be offered in the future. CFAR leadership can present results to the University when requesting funding. Likewise, this analysis can be used by the NIH CFAR to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program.