Chartered as an affirming health center for the gay and lesbian community in 1978, Whitman-Walker was one of the first responders to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in D.C. and became a leader in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

WWH is named for poet Walt Whitman (a former D.C. resident) and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a noted Civil War-era physician in the District and women's rights activist.

Administration continues to operate out of the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center located at 1701 14th Street, NW in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[2] WWH also provides primary medical services, dental care and legal services out of its Max Robinson Center in the primarily African-American neighborhood of Anacostia in Southeast D.C.[4] Annually, WWH produces The Walk to End HIV, formerly AIDS Walk Washington, which is held in October, and is the largest community-based fundraising event for WWH's HIV services.

Whitman-Walker hired its first board-certified medical technologist for an in-house laboratory offering testing for various sexually transmitted diseases.

On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report featured an account of five young gay men in Los Angeles with cases of rare pneumonia.

Whitman-Walker also opened a food bank and hired its first full-time lawyer to provide clients with legal services related to AIDS discrimination.

At this time, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation[15] were the clinic's primary financial supporters.

Whitman-Walker eventually found other space and opened its Northern Virginia AIDS (NOVAA) Project office in Arlington, offering case management and education services.

[16] In 1988, WWC expanded its services throughout the D.C. metropolitan region, providing access to new HIV treatments an opening an on-site, at-cost pharmacy.

[citation needed] Passage of the Ryan White CARE Act in 1991 led to the infusion of federal grant funds, helping to reinforce the clinic's finances.

Whitman-Walker adopted oral testing for HIV in 1993 before most major AIDS clinics in the U.S.[21] That same year, WWC dedicated the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, designed to provide holistic care to patients with all service needs met under one roof, named in honor of actress and AIDS activist Dame Elizabeth Taylor.

[23] At the beginning of 1998, Washington AIDS Partnership awarded WWC with a $42,000 grant to expand the clinic's Needle Exchange Program.

Unfortunately, later that year, Congress passed a District budget with restrictions on federal funding for organizations conducting needle exchange programs.

With the successful use of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), this case made it harder for doctors to justify discrimination against HIV-positive patients.

Jim Graham, long-time executive director of WWC, resigned at the end of 1998 to serve on the D.C. City Council representing Ward One.

This change put an additional financial strain on the clinic as it continued providing services to a growing patient base.

The CDC and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield helped the clinic observe World AIDS Day, December 1, by providing funds for two new mobile HIV testing units.

Cornelius Baker resigned as executive director of WWC in December 2004, telling the Washington Blade the clinic's financial difficulties had negatively impacted his health and citing other personal reasons for leaving.

This cash crunch was brought on by the ongoing freeze in Ryan White CARE Act funding levels, reduced donations through special events and late payments from the D.C. government for services rendered.

After an internal investigation confirmed the error, WWC immediately stopped billing for these services and notified all pertinent funders.

A week later, WWC announced it would sell its two properties on 14th Street and the Max Robinson Center in Anacostia in seeking to build new, larger medical treatment facilities in the two respective areas by 2009.

Whitman-Walker hired the staff of the Washington Free Clinic, allowing WWC to further expand the medical services it offered.

Although WWC laid off an unspecified number of employees due to the outsourcing, Blanchon said the clinic was still the area's largest provider of HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment.

The turnaround was attributed to several factors: The creation of stable sources of revenue allowed WWC to decrease its dependency on government funding and private contributions, making it less vulnerable to economic downturns.

Between 2006 and 2010, the clinic more than doubled the number of health care providers on staff, including specialists in gynecology, hepatitis and psychiatry.

The two percent operating gain represented the third year in a row of financial progress and reflected a tremendous amount of hard work and sacrifice for WWC staff.

The July 24th forum drew hundreds to the Lisner Auditorium to hear speakers including Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of Ryan White.

The name change “reflects a cataclysmic shift to what HIV is today – a chronic, manageable disease,” said Don Blanchon at the time of the announcement.

[56] In comparison to Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, the 42,000 square foot building doubled exam room space to 28, tripled dental chairs to nine and allowed for a street-facing pharmacy open to the whole community.

In June, WWH announced that after the completion of a two-year planning and assessment process, its board of directors had decided to redevelop the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center site with Streetscape via a joint venture partnership model.