Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House, is about to "take a back seat": According to the Associated Press, Fauci recently announced that he will step down from the government in December to pursue the next chapter of his career. But that doesn't mean Fauci, 81, is retiring, who said he will continue to advance science and public health, nurturing the next generation of scientific leaders and preparing the world for the future threat of infectious diseases.
The captain of the basketball team changed to medicine
Fauci became director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984 and has been in this position for 38 years. He has been through seven U.S. presidents and is one of america's leading infectious disease scientists, dealing with multiple infectious crises including HIV, West Nile, anthrax, influenza, avian influenza, Ebola and the new crown virus, but what makes him more famous is the 2020 outbreak of the new crown epidemic. In fact, before Fauci became the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, his resume was also very good.
Fauci was born in Brooklyn, New York, in December 1940 to Italian immigrant parents who ran a drugstore. Fauci recalls that his father was in charge of dispensing medicines, his mother registered with his sister for cashiers, and when he was very young, he rode his bicycle near the pharmacy to deliver goods in the evenings and weekends.
But while dealing with drugs since childhood, Fauci said he "didn't expect to be interested in science." "I'm interested in a lot of things, mostly sports, but not science." In 1954, he began attending high school at one of the best boys' schools in New York State, and at first did not want to be a doctor, but was more interested in basketball, and was the captain of the high school basketball team. But he soon discovered a real problem: he was only one meter seven tall, which almost meant that he could not continue to follow the path of professional basketball, so he decided to change his career direction.
Fauci was a basketball captain in high school
Fauci actually prefers the humanities, and his maternal grandfather, uncle, and cousins are almost all artists, but in school, many of his best peers are devoted to medicine, engineering, and law. Fauci's mother encouraged her son to break with the tradition of the "House of Arts" and become a doctor. Fauci later recalled: "She never pressured me in any way, but I had a subtle feeling that she wanted me to be a doctor. Because of his love of the humanities, Fauci struggled between the classic humanities and sciences, and finally decided to study medicine, because in his view "becoming a doctor is the perfect combination of these two aspirations."
At school, Fauci's curriculum was extensive, including four years of Greek and Latin, three years of French and ancient history. These improve his ability to argue, and he is able to present an argument that proves its correctness with strong arguments.
Defined by HIV
After graduating from high school, Fauci was accepted to The Massachusetts College of the Holy Cross, which was known for being "highly selective" about its student origins, earning a bachelor's degree in classical arts and a pre-medical degree. In the United States, pre-med is a direction chosen by most students who want to become doctors, which is equivalent to the introductory major of medical students. In 1966, Fauci graduated from Cornell University with the first place in his class, receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree. After completing his internship, he joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968 as an assistant in the Clinical Research Laboratory affiliated with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he had become a Senior Fellow by 1972. Fauci has described his job as studying diseases that are "incurable but not incurable" and that "may seem relatively simple, but that's the nature of most infectious diseases." ”
In 1981, a strange disease appeared in the United States, which changed the direction of Fauci's research and changed the fate of many people in the world, that is, AIDS. At that time, people did not know what kind of disease it was, only that it would profoundly affect and destroy the human immune system. Since then, Fauci has been one of the leading researchers on the disease and has grown to become an expert on viral and immune system diseases. He once said, "My profession and identity are indeed defined by HIV. ”
Fauci in 1990
In 1984, the then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases left and recommended Fauci to take over. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of 27 research institutes under the National Institutes of Health. Over the years, Fauci has declined multiple "promotions" and has not held leadership positions at the National Institutes of Health, focusing instead on research in the areas of infectious diseases and immunomodulation.
In addition to his business skills, Fauci is also good at communication. In 1988, some AIDS patients and demonstrators marched in front of the National Institutes of Health, and many people pointed their fingers at Fauci, calling him an "incompetent idiot" and a "drug pushing tool" of medical institutions, and some people insulted his wife. Faced with this situation, Fauci asked the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) not to arrest anyone, but instead invited some of the organizers of the demonstrations to the office for interviews and traveled to many places to talk to AIDS patients, telling them about the necessity of participating in clinical trials, and finally won the trust of the other side.
Infected with the new crown virus
Michael Ostholm, an old friend of Fauci's and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said: "Fauci has a strong drive to do better than anyone else in whatever he does. Those who knew him knew that he was destined to be a leader. According to ScienceNet's total number of citations from 1980 to 2019, Fauci ranks eighth out of 2.2 million scholars in the field of immunology worldwide. The New York Times commented that "few scientists in the field of U.S. public policy have as long-lasting and sustained influence as he has." ”
However, Fauci has failed to lead the United States out of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020, he called on the US government to pay attention to the threat of the epidemic and actively take anti-epidemic measures, which was trusted by many people. However, due to many differences with then US President Trump on the issue of epidemic prevention, Fauci was repeatedly excluded. After Biden became president of the United States, Fauci was appointed White House chief medical adviser and a member of the White House Coronavirus Response Task Force. But Fauci himself admits, "I'm not happy with the 400 deaths we still have every day."
Even Fauci himself has been infected with the new crown virus, and the National Institutes of Health issued a statement on June 15 saying that Fauci tested positive for the new crown virus, had mild symptoms and worked from home. Previously, he had completed the full covid-19 vaccination and had received two booster injections.
Today, there are more than 15,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox virus in the United States, the highest number in the world. As early as July, Fauci reminded that the monkeypox virus has a certain risk of developing into a local epidemic in the United States and must be responded to quickly.
In addition, in recent years, the American society has become increasingly torn apart and the bipartisan struggle has become increasingly polarized, Fauci has also been involved in the whirlpool. Despite stepping down from public office at the end of the year, Fauci said in an interview that he was "mixed" about it but excited about the work that lay ahead. "I'm 81 now, but I still feel young. I firmly believe that as long as I have the energy, passion, and health, I can do something else in the next stage of my career. ”