A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Oct. 22, 2006 - Went to the Grand Opening of the House of Sweden (Swedish Embassy plus offices and art shows) on Georgetown Waterfront (right next to Sequoia restaurant). King Carl Gustav and Queen Sofia were greeting everyone. Amazingly beautiful structure with views of the canal and the Potomac. Crisp Fall night with bright stars. Of note, Queen Sofia asked specifically to speak with me after the greeting line finished since she had been told of my work with HIV/AIDS. She is committed to helping Russia with its problem of HIV since she feels that the Russians would be more amenable to getting help from the Swedes than from the USA. She wanted to talk about how we (she and I ) could work together on this. Had good discussion with Kristen Silverberg about the problems the Administration is having.
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Nov. 28, 2006 - Attended and spoke at the Aspen Symposium in DuPont Circle (DC). It was an unusual gathering of Iranian scientists meeting with various US officials, particularly in the Dept. of State and HHS. I was a main speaker and exchanged information with Iranians on HIV/AIDS, TB, and other diseases in Iran. It was surprisingly frank and open given the tense relations between USA and Iran surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. If fact, the Iranians who came to the USA were a bit nervous about the political fall-out for them. I dealt with Kamiar Alaei and his brother Arash Alaei on ID issues in Iran. Also present was Dr. Abolhassan Nadim, the Chair of the Iranian Epidemiological Association.
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Dec. 2, 2006 - Annual Christmas Party at Sam and Jan-Smith Donaldson's House in McLean. Have been going to these parties for at least the past 10 - 15 years. The usual interesting and warm crowd was there. This party is probably the most friendly of all of the D.C. "glitterati" parties, mostly because of the warmth and friendliness of Sam and Jan as well as the fact that the same people come every year +/- whoever is hot at that time in the news. Over the years, we have run into virtually everyone who is "known" in DC. Some highlights from this year. Nice conversation with Colin Powell about AIDS in African-Americans. The recent UNAIDS numbers are out showing that of the new infections in the USA, among men, 50% are in Blacks and among women 65% are in Blacks. On Nov. 30, I was supposed to be on the CNN Paula Zahn Show speaking about this, but at the last minute, their producer (Marie....) cancelled because she said that they have a guest who is really the "face of AIDS, since she got infected from her boyfriend by heterosexual sex". Turns out the guest is Regan Hoffman, the editor of POZ Magazine. Regan is a beautiful, blond, blue-eyed WASP from Connecticut who clearly accidentally got infected from her white boyfriend who was almost certainly bisexual. For every one of these, there are 10,000 poor black girls in an inner city area who got infected from their drug-user boyfriends. So there they were: beautiful, blond, blue-eyed and wealthy Paula Zahn speaking on TV with beautiful, blond, blue-eyed (likely also wealthy) Regan Hoffman smiling and saying how grateful she is that she has all the opportunities for treatment. Her only "concern" is that the mother of her new boyfriend was concerned that she was infected; but now all is well because the boy's mother is an "educated person". I had watched this on TV and almost vomited. This was as far from the reality of what the "face of AIDS" is than I could ever imagine. On Nov. 29 at a big HIV Prevention Meeting at the Mandarin Hotel in DC chaired by John Bartlett of Hopkins and Ken Mayer of brown, one of the themes and the points that I made in the press conference is that AIDS in the USA was assuming the face of a young black woman. My good friend Phill Wilson (CEO of the Black AIDS Institute in LA) gave an eloquent talk on this subject and he should have been with me on CNN instead of my getting bumped by Regan. I was pissed because that one 5-10 minute segment on Paula Zahn likely undid by 100-fold the points that I and Phill were trying to make at the conference. I had mentioned this to my CNN Producer friend Christy Feig and she was also appalled and has since brought it up to the CNN Board. In any event, at Sam's Party, I was still pissed and discussed this with Powell who has been spending time on the lecture circuit talking about prostate cancer, particularly in black men. His comment was "What do you expect?.... It is CNN." He promised that he would bring up the issue of AIDS in Black America in his lectures. I have known Colin for years from the time that he was Secretary of State and I had briefed him on AIDS and went to the UN with him during an UNGASS years ago. Also, had discussions with my old friend Lee Hamilton who is co-chairing the Iraq Study Group that will be giving their report to the Congress and the President in a few days. It will be extremely critical of the execution of the Iraq War and rebuilding. Also discussions with - Antonin Scalia, George Will (ABC), Nina Tottenberg (NPR), Bob Shieffer (CBS), Bill Plante (White House correspondent) and many others.
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Dec. 4, 2006 - Things mostly quiet on the NIH front. Big problems in Iraq that are dominating the news with insurgency and civil war. Bush is having a very hard time. Democrats have taken control of House and Senate, mostly by voter protest of the war in Iraq. Had World AIDS Day with usual press interest. Secretary Leavitt wanted me to go to China with him from Dec. 6 to 13; I first said yes, but then backed out since I really do not want to travel during this busy period and the purpose of the trip was secondary to my interest and involvement, i.e. economic and trade considerations with only a side order of health. Jenny Fauci doing great in Brazil. She loves it and will return on Dec. 23. I am getting more and more involved in Global Health issues such as malaria, health care work force support in developing nations through the DDCF, XDR tuberculosis, etc. Have given many talks over the past few weeks on these issues.
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2006-12-13 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Dec. 13, 2006 - I hosted a press conference to announce the breakthrough study that was prematurely stopped by the DSMB. Study was the use of medically supervised adult male circumcision in Kenya (Kisumu) and Uganda (Rekai) to determine effect on HIV transmission. Results were striking. Study was safe and led to a 48% (Uganda) to 53% (Kenya) decrease in transmission. Big printed press coverage including front page of NY Times.
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Dec. 14, 2006 - Big White House Malaria Summit sponsored by Malaria No More and Introduced by Laura Bush with the POTUS giving Keynote Lecture. Held as 1⁄2 day meeting at the National Geographic Society Headquarters on 17th Street in DC. I had helped Gary Edson who was consulting for Malaria No More in the scientific background for the meeting which was mostly talks by African Health Ministers, Melinda Gates, Faith-Based people (Rick Warren, etc.), Paul Wolfowitz, Margaret Chan (WHO DG). I had nice chats with each of these. Purpose was to increase awareness of malaria and he how with little money we can dramatically reduce malaria, particularly in Africa. Spoke of results in Africa of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) that over the past 2 years with $1.2 Billion for bed nets, indoor spraying with insecticides, and ACT (Artemisinincombination therapy) malaria has been markedly decreased in certain countries. MC was Isaiah Washington of "Grey's Anatomy" TV show. I met and interacted with the usual cast. Also included Sens. Pat Leahy, Bill Frist, etc. VP Cheney's Annual Christmas Party. Chris did not come since she was setting up for the reception following the Annual Lessons and Carols at the Cathedral (I went later). Usual festivities with many people there. Spent much time talking to Carol Kuntz. Also, Scooter Libby was there awaiting start of his trial for providing false information to the Special Investigator (Fitzgerald) about the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame issue. Spoke more with Isaiah Washington.
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Jan. 29, 2007 - Iraq war going very badly with civil war among Shia and Sunnis and insurgency running wild. Bush popularity in USA way down. The war is dominating the political scene in USA and particularly DC including discussions by Presidential candidates. Went to an interesting dinner tonight at the Metropolitan Club hosted by Dr. Ward (Trip) Casscells in honor of the Surgeon General of the Armed Forces of Iraq - Samir Abdullah Hassan, M.D. I sat next to him at dinner. Good guy and smart and tough. He explained the disaster that USA inadvertently promulgated by dissolving the Iraqi military. The Provisional government (Paul Bremer) dissolved the Iraqi medical corps and so now they do not have any army hospitals or army doctors to take care of the wounded and sick Iraqi soldiers. Also told me that the entire bureaucracy in Iraq (sewer, transportation, utilities) was run by the military and so when Bremer dissolved the military he completely destroyed the infrastructure of the country. Samir feels that this was an amazing blunder. Also, by dissolving the police, we now have anarchy in Iraq with criminal elements running wild.
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Feb. 14, 2007 - Briefed Bruce Miller (VP Cheney's Chief of staff for biodefense) at the White House on AIDS, Pandemic Flu, Malaria, and biodefense in preparation for my future briefing of the VP that Bruce will set up.
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March 5, 2007 - Went to great memorial for Art Buchwald at the Eisenhower Theater of the Kennedy Center at the invitation of Art's son Joel and his wife Tamara. Many VIPs there including Ethel Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokow, Dave Barry, and most important people in the media in DC and nationally. It was a warm and hilarious event filled with stories about Art and film clips of him