"I consider myself a perpetual student..."

Last month, a long-time scientist and public health advocate announced his retirement. Anthony Stephen Fauci may not have become a household name here in the U.S. had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic. But because of the last 2+ years, we have also had the great privilege to learn about his life’s work and mission.

Fauci grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940s to a pharmacist and dry cleaner, attending a private school on the Upper East Side. One of my favorite qualities about him that I learned from a children’s book recently was just how good he was, even as a child, at getting along with people. At 5 ft 7 inches tall, he wasn’t a typical basketball player, but he learned to play smart and quick, and was admired by his classmates. He ended up being the captain of their team. Fauci graduated from college in the 1960s and went on to graduate first in his class at Cornell University’s Medical College.

Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health after residency, and went on to become one of the country’s top experts on viral diseases. He was one of the leading researchers during the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the 1980s. He didn’t always get things right, and he also faced a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ+ community who felt abandoned by the government during the crisis. But over time, his diligent work on the epidemic, as well as his openness to speaking with protestors and those who disagreed with him, did win even his biggest critics over. He was one of the architects of PEPFAR – an AIDS relief program between the US and African countries, that is credited with saving over 20 million lives.

While the country most recognizes him for his work under the White House Coronavirus Task Force, he also worked at the NIH during SARS, Ebola, and the West Nile viruses. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, and was known for working with presidents across the aisle, including both Bushes, Clinton, Obama and Reagan. Fauci has published over 1,100 papers in his six decades at the NIH!

I consider myself a perpetual student. You seek and learn every day: from an experiment in the lab, from reading a scientific journal, from taking care of a patient. Because of this, I rarely get bored.

- Anthony Fauci

At the age of 81, I hope I’m a fraction as curious about the world, dogmatic in my pursuit of knowledge, and open to those who disagree with me!