A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Nov. 25, 2008 - Received a call from Aaron Pickrell who is running the Obama transition team for HHS and sub-agencies. He said that my name is actively being discussed for NIH director and he wanted to know if I was interested. I was frank and honest with him saying that I wanted to remain as NIAID Director, but I want to be part of the Obama team and perhaps we could work out something informal (without title) or more formal (?Special Assistant or Special Advisor to the POTUS) for issues on Global AIDS, Emerging infections, and Biodefense. He said that he would run this up the ladder and see how people react. My real desire is to stay where I am but to be called upon as I have been for 20+ years on issues mentioned above. I do not want to give up my solid base of scientific credibility. I hear that Francis Collins is aggressively campaigning for the job of NIH Director - not surprising.
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Nov. 29, 2008 - Had brunch with small group of people at Richard and Donna BenVeniste's house. He is a great guy with whom Chris and I have developed a nice friendship. He asked about the NIH Director job and suggested without my implying that I should tell the Obama people that I want to do both NIAID Director and NIH Director. This is what I agreed upon with Tommy Thompson 6 years ago, but the WH (Clay Johnson) blocked it and said that I could take one or the other. I picked NIAID Director. I actually do not think that doing both jobs would work, mainly because people would jump on the "appearance" of conflict every time that I made a decision that they did not like or if their grant did not get funded, and on and on. Also at the brunch was Carl Feldbaum, the IG of the DoD during the Carter Administration and his son Harley who is at Hopkins School of Public Health and is very interested in "Health Diplomacy". He has been an admirer of mine for years as a student. I hope to help him and perhaps advise him on career choices.
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Nov. 30, 2008 - Sunday AM (pouring rain). I had backed out of the Redskins- NY Giants game with Gene Elrod because my daughters were home for Thanksgiving weekend. Got a call from Jay Lefkowitz who is writing a brief history of PEPFAR for a trade journal (forgot which one). He wanted to do a historical fact check with me about the timing of meetings that we had with Josh Bolton, Gary Edson, Kristen Silverberg in the WH. His version of events was strikingly close to my historical memory. During the conversation he asked about the NIH Director job and we reminisced about the Bush years. Interesting fact that he dropped. He related that he was having a conversation with Bush during the time of the NIH Director decision and Bush said, "why not just appoint Tony Fauci". Jay agreed. Jay now casually mentioned that Karl Rove was against my candidacy. He did not say why. I could be that he was against the "dual" appointment or perhaps he was influenced by Sen. Brownback's concern about my stance on fetal tissue and stem cell research. I guess that I will never know.
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Dec. 1-8, 2008 issue of U.S. News & World Report. Other winners who were present were: David Baltimore, Regina Benjamin, Benjamin Carson, Manuel Diaz (Mayor of Miami), Marian Wright Edelman, Fiona Anne Harrison, Freeman A. Hrabowski (Pres. U of MD, Baltimore County, Dave Levin (Founder of KIPP Foundation, Linda Rottenberg (CEO, Endeavor), Mike Feinberg (C0-founder of KIPP), Maria Zuber (MIT). Awardees who were not there: Lance Armstrong, Jeffrey Bezos (CEO, Amazon.com), Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock (Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz), Robert Gates (Secretary of DoD), Amory Lovins, Anne Mulcahy (CEO Xerox), Indra Nooyi (CEO, PepsiCo.) Junior Officers DoD, Jeffrey Sachs, Steven Spielberg, Michael Tilson Thomas Music Director, SF Symphony. David Gergon asked each of us what we would recommend to President-Elect Obama as an area that he should pay attention to. I stressed the need for support of biomedical research and also the importance and moral obligation that we have towards promoting Global Health and its potential for "Health Diplomacy".
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2008-12-06 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Dec. 6, 2008 - Annual Christmas Party at Sam and Jan Donaldson's home. As usual, great time with the standard cast of characters some of whom are: Colin Powell, Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Bob Barnett, George Will, Ellen and Gerry Sigal (told me that Francis Collins is "aggressively" campaigning for the job of NIH Director. I told her that I preferred to stay at NIAID.), Bob Mueller (FBI), Gen. James Jones (new National Security Advisor for Obama; we spoke about the importance of biodefense and gave him my card). Great time was had! After the Donaldson party went to the National Zoo (Amazonia) for the 50th Birthday party for Greg Folkers thrown by his significant other Sheila Stinson.
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Dec. 7, 2008 - (Sunday) - got e-mail asking me to call Mike Froman from the Obama Transition Team, wanting to know if I was interested in the NIH Director's job. He said that Obama had mentioned my name to him and asked that he contact me. I told him what I told Aaron Pickrell on Nov. 25 (above) that I felt that I could serve Obama, his administration, and the American people better in my current job and expressed a willingness to work closely with them the way I have with the Bush and Clinton Administrations. He understood and asked if I would be willing to help vet names for them as they narrow the search. I told him that I would be happy to do that.
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Dec. 9, 2008 - Chris and I went to the VP Mansion for the Annual Christmas Party. Bitter-sweet since this is the last one that I will have gone to the mansion for the Bush Administration and maybe (who knows?) the last visit that I might make to the VP mansion. Chris and I reminisced that the first time we came here was when George H.W. Bush was VP in the early 1980s and how we returned several times for receptions and brunches as the VP and I became friends. Tonight there was the usual cast of people who I had the opportunity to talk to and thank for the years of working together and helping each other out. First and foremost was VP Cheney who expressed his appreciation for "all that I have done for our country" over the years that we had worked together and beyond. Also, reminisced with Bruce Miller (VP's Chief for biodefense), David Addington (VP Counsel), Mike Chertoff, Mike Leavitt, Bob Kadlec.
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Dec. 10, 2008 - On an unseasonably warm night for December, went to the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, D.C. (12th and Maryland Avenue, SW) to receive the "25 Greatest Public Servants" Award from the Council for Excellence in Government. It was somewhat of a big deal. Other awardees who were present were Everett Alvarez (Viet Nam pilot POW), Lee Hamilton, Sen. Richard Lugar, Tom Ridge, Donna Shalala, Shirley Jackson (President Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Other awardees who were not there were: James Baker, Mayor Mike Bloomberg of NYC, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, Former VP Al Gore, Tom Kean, Ted Kennedy, Congressman John Lewis, Wilma Mankiller, Norman Pinetta, George Mitchell, Sandra Day O'Connor, Peter Peterson (Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations, Colin Powell, Alice Rivlin, Robert Rubin, George Schultz, Paul Volker, John C. Whitehead Former deputy Secr. Of State. Interesting evening with a lot of friendly discussions about the Obama transition. Clay Johnson of OMB was there and said a few words about the Bush Administration and told the large dinner crowd that we are leaving the government and the country better than we found it - the entire audience was struck silent. You could feel the discomfort in the room. I sort-of like Clay (even though he screwed me years ago re: the NIH Directorship), but he clearly proved how out-of-touch he and the Administration people are.
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Dec. 10 - 26, 2008 - Jenny got home on Dec. 23 and Megan has been home since Dec. 19. Wonderful to have all 3 girls together in the house. Jenny is as passionate as ever over the work that she is doing teaching science at a charter school in Brooklyn (Brownsville). She lives in Park Slope. I am a bit worried about her living in a tough section of Brooklyn, but she is a careful young woman. Interesting that she wound up in the place on my birth. Megan is somewhat sad and lonely in NYC even though she is doing extremely well at Columbia (all As except for 1 A- and 1 A+). She does not like college life, but I am sure that she will adjust since her main issue is she does not make friends easily. Dec. 26 - Jan. 1, 2009 - Had our every 3 1⁄2 year big Editorial Board meeting of HPIM in preparation for HPIM-18 . Meeting in Rio Grande (40 minutes West of San Juan). Enjoyed the stay, but Chris and the girls were there only from Dec. 28 (PM) until Dec. 31 (AM). We had my 1 day off on Dec. 30 and spent day at beach with great weather (80 and sunny). Chris and I and the girls together with the Hauser boys (Bennett, William and Stewart) went kayaking in an sea kayak out to a sand bar. Spent the evening in Old San Juan at a great outdoor restaurant in the old square near El Moro Fort.