A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Jan. 23, 2009 --I Treally liked this guy. He was the one who in the late 1980s encouraged (even pushed) me to go to a Town-Hall meeting that he had arranged in San Francisco to go against the FDA and USG and advocate for a Parallel Track program for AIDS drug availability. Long story to this (which should be fleshed out for the book). I knew it was the right thing to do and had been listening to Marty and to Jim Eigo of ACT-UP who was also a strong advocate of parallel track. When I put my support behind it in SF at the public meeting, this was on the front page of the NY Times the next day. I thought for sure that I would get in trouble with HHS since Frank Young and the FDA were dead against this. However, so many people were excited that I had the courage to do this publicly that Frank Young caved in and made a public statement that he actually agreed with me (what an opportunist!!). In any event, this would not have happened had it not been for Marty. I need to go back and get the precise dates for this. Interesting that in January of 1993 I was given a certificate of Appreciation by HHS for being a leader in the establishment of Parallel Track . Throughout the subsequent years, Marty has always been an honest broker with me and we had come to develop a great deal of respect and affection for each other. In the early days, he used to smuggle AIDS drugs (unapproved) across the Mexican border to California. He also arranged "AIDS Drug Buyer's Clubs". He also wrote many manuals for informing the at risk population and infected people about important issues. In my mind Marty was a true Public Health hero. Also, today I gave the Keynote Address at the 4 Annual Harvard Medical School Student Conference in Boston on "HIV/AIDS: Priorities for the Obama Administration". Paul Farmer was there and we had a good time. There were Panels for discussion and the students asked penetrating questions. d to
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Jan. 24, 2009 - Attended with Chris the Lido Civic Club Gala at the Capitol Hilton on 16th and K Streets, N.W. Have been going to these black tie Award Galas for a few years. It is where I met Gen. Peter Pace and Judge Sam Alito. Lido is an Italian American Civic Club with a long history in DC. It started giving awards almost 100 years ago to people like Fiorello LaGuardia, etc. This year the awardees were Gen. Pace (former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Deputy Mayor of DC Dan Tangherlini. It was good to meet Dan since I will soon be dealing with him and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty to launch a "Test and Treat program for AID in DC (more later). Also at the party were Major Fenty's mother and father. She is an Italian-American and he is an AfricanAmerican. Gen Pace is a truly nice man and accepted his award with a moving speech about his parents and grandparents and the men he served with in the marines from the time he was a rifle platoon leader in Viet Nam through Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Also seated at our table was an Army Sergeant (Joe Hauser) who had his right leg blown off in Balard, Iraq (where I had visited in 2003). Paul Wolfowitz and his girlfriend Shaha Riza (World Bank) were also at our table. Recall that there was a "social scandal" when Paul was head of the World Bank and had to leave because it was felt that he was showing favoritism to Shaha who was an employee and was also living with him. Paul and I reminisced about when we worked together on biodefense when he was Deputy Secretary at the Dept. of Defense.
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Jan. 30, 2009 - Comment on the firing of Mark Dybul as head of OGAC (Office of Global AIDS Coordinator) . It is a shame the way Mark was handled. I am attaching a NY Times article covering this. Mark is back in my office until his retirement. NY Times article:: The abrupt departure of the State Department's global AIDS coordinator has led to debate over who should run what may be President Bush's greatest legacy: his commitment of billions of dollars to fighting AIDS overseas. The position -- U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and director of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is known as Pepfar -- is a State Department post with ambassador's rank that had been held by Dr. Mark R. Dybul, a Bush administration appointee. On Jan. 9, Dr. Dybul circulated a memo saying he had been asked by President Obama's transition team to stay on the job temporarily. But on Jan. 22, one day after Hillary Clinton was confirmed as secretary of state, her staff announced that Dr. Dybul had resigned. No reason was given, but he was reported to have packed up his office and said an emotional goodbye to his staff that afternoon. Dr. Dybul did not return phone messages, but he has told friends that he does not even know on whose orders he was dismissed. "He deserved better," said a friend who asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing his government job. "He didn't want to stay, but he was asked to." The ambassador disburses Pepfar's funds; Congress authorized $15 billion over five years in 2003, and the fund has since paid for AIDS drugs for about two million people, mostly in Africa. Last year, after a bitter fight between liberal and conservative lawmakers over what the money could be spent on, the fund was renewed as part of a law authorizing $48 billion over five years for combating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The question of who should run the program seems to be a legacy of that fight. Several names have been discussed as possible candidates, but AIDS activists say they know of no one who has been seriously vetted for the job by the Obama transition team since November. A day after Dr. Dybul's resignation, word began to circulate among AIDS activists that the job had been offered to Dr. Eric Goosby, the director of AIDS policy in Bill Clinton's administration, who now runs a San Francisco foundation devoted to fighting AIDS. According to a member of an anti-AIDS group speaking on the condition of anonymity, Senator John Kerry approached Mrs. Clinton, seeking the job for Dr. Jim Yong Kim, a Harvard medical school professor and former World Health Organization AIDS chief, and was told that she had offered it to Dr. Goosby. Through a spokesman, Dr. Goosby declined to confirm or deny that he had been offered the job, and Dr. Kim did not return phone calls seeking comment. Senator Kerry's spokesman said he would not discuss the senator's personal conversations with Mrs. Clinton. Both men had been discussed as possible candidates, along with Dr. Nils Daulaire, president of the Global Health Council; Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiologist at the Columbia School of Public Health; and Warren W. Buckingham III, Pepfar's director in Kenya, who is openly gay and taking AIDS drugs himself. Dr. Daulaire declined to be interviewed, Dr. El-Sadr said she had not heard that her name was among those being discussed, and Mr. Buckingham said he knew his name had been suggested by others but had not lobbied for the job and had not been contacted by either the Obama or Clinton teams. The abruptness of Dr. Dybul's departure and the secrecy of the process to replace him has upset some AIDS policy specialists. On Monday, a coalition of 68 anti-AIDS groups sent a letter to Mrs. Clinton asking her not to fill Mr. Dybul's post immediately but to convene a committee to identify top candidates and get many viewpoints, including theirs. One of its authors, Brian Hennessey of the Vineeta Foundation, expressed his irritation at how the request was ignored. i "Goosby is not bad," he said. "There are plenty of people who want Goosby -- but they'll be damned if the job is filled this way. This isn't the truth-in-advertising of the Obama campaign." Dr. Dybul's departure was both celebrated and condemned. Jodi Jacobson, a former head of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, which wants financing for all aspects of women's reproductive health, including abortion, wrote a blog post titled "Dybul Out: Thank You Hillary!!!" It argued that he had worked too closely with the far right, and she accused him of lobbying to please the Roman Catholic Church by letting its relief groups opt out of distributing condoms. Michael Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter and Washington Post columnist, shot back that "blogging extremists" like Ms. Jacobson had lied about Dr. Dybul's record and that his firing had left an important program without a leader. At the heart of the debate was the difficult bipartisan compromise behind Mr. Bush's AIDS plan. It is the darling of two groups that normally oppose each other: foreign policy liberals who want to help Africa and evangelical Christians who support mission hospitals there. Dr. Dybul was straddling some personal fences too: he was one of the Bush administration's few openly gay officials, a doctor who had treated AIDS patients in San Francisco and Africa, and he had donated to Democratic causes. His only predecessor, Randall L. Tobias, a former pharmaceutical executive, was promoted within the State Department, then ousted in the D.C. Madam scandal after acknowledging he had received escort-service massages -- a development that led to derision over the fund's abstinence policies. Mr. Tobias and Dr. Dybul surprised many with two early decisions that activists had expected fights over: Pepfar has paid for millions of condoms, and it buys cheap generic drugs from India, despite the pharmaceutical lobby's opposition. But conservatives in Congress imposed other restrictions: one-third of the money spent on prevention had to be used for teaching abstinence until marriage. Groups getting funds, including those helping prostitutes, had to sign a pledge condemning prostitution. And no money could be spent on clean needles for drug addicts. These issues were divisive not just for liberals and conservatives, but also between liberals. For example, some feminists think women needing money have a right to engage in prostitution, while others oppose it, saying it contributes to human trafficking and child rape. In separate studies, the Government Accountability Office and the Institute of Medicine both found that the abstinence earmark unnecessarily tied the hands of fund recipients, especially in countries where AIDS was concentrated among drug users and prostitutes. e 7500 range. Thus Dr. Dybul defended the teaching of abstinence, especially to young children, because it can be effective among deeply religious rural Africans. And he argued that countries could get funds for prohibited uses, like clean needles, from other donors like the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria or European countries. Although the restrictions have been criticized, no one has presented scientific evidence that they cost any lives. And although there was grumbling in 2003 when the Bush administration created its own AIDS program rather than simply contributing to the Global Fund, Rajat Gupta, chairman of the Global Fund's board, said Thursday in Davos that Pepfar was "one of the truly great contributions of the last administration." Jan. 30 - Feb. 20 - Stock market continues to crash with DOW in the 7500 range. Thus far I have lost on paper more than $1 million of my wealth. Tom Daschle had to drop out of running for the Secretary of HHS because of concern over unpaid taxes for private car and driver that was loaned to him for 3 years without charge by a friend. He did not claim it as taxable income, which it is. Also, he made $5 million on influence peddling (access to people in government) since he stepped down as Senator. Too bad since he is a very good person and would have made a great Secretary. I still think that I would fit for that job, but I really do not want to leave what I am doing and besides, no one in the administration has asked me. They apparently only would want me for NIH Director and I do not want that at all.
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Feb. 21, 2009- Had great time receiving the Science and Medicine Award at the 15th Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards Gala at Palm Springs, CA sponsored by the Desert AIDS Project It was an amazing and enjoyable glitzy affair at the Palm Springs Convention Center with Red Carpet arrival similar to the Academy Awards (which actually took place the next day (Sunday) in LA. Star-studded Affair with Linda Gray ("Dallas TV Series), Donna Mills (Knots Landing) and Morgan Fairchild (old friend from AmFar days) MC'd the event. Other Awardees were Bebe Neuwirth (Broadway star) and Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway Star) for Arts and Activism; Harriet Goldberg won the 100 Women Award; Bill Jones won the Partner for Life Award; Barry Manilow won the Silver Anniversary Community Service Award. He came with Suzanne Somers who was wonderful with me and had been following my career for years. She said that she knew all about me because she was a "doctor junky". She has written several book on Health for Women. Best was Morgan Fairchild who made sure that I was introduced to everyone and also partook in my introduction on stage to receive the award. She really was wonderful and friendly. The main introducer of me was Regan Hofmann (Editor of POZ Magazine). She was beautiful and very nice. Donna Mills seemed a bit artificial and had a forced smile, but everyone else was great. Lv
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2009-03-04 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
March 4, 2009 - Over the past few weeks the stock market continues to plunge with no end in sight. The Dow is now at 6500 down from 14,000 in Oct., 2007. I have lost a SUBSTANTIAL portion of my savings including the money form HPIM, Prizes, etc. - well over $1 million. The retrospectoscope is always right, but the fact is, I always had serious concerns about the vicissitudes of the market and always said that I would rather not lose money that try to make it since my salary + book + prizes get me a lot of money. John Katkish, who is a good man and conservative convinced me otherwise and here we are - trapped since we cannot sell now since the losses would be phenomenal. On the evening of March 4, I attended the annual Friends of Cancer Awards night reception at the Hotel Monaco on 4th and F Street, N.W. Ellen Sigal and Marlene Malek run this group and always invite me. The awardees were Steny Hoyer, Sen, Judd Gregg, Lisa Paulsen of the Motion Picture Industry Foundation and Janet Woodcock of the FDA. Usual DC glitterati of politics there. Steny was most gracious to me in accepting the award and went on about what a great man and scientist I am and how we go back so many years. He brought up (again) the story of how George H. W. Bush called me his hero in the 1988 Presidential Debates. Also, had good conversation with Sen. Gregg and told him that I respected his action of dropping out of contention for Secretary of Commerce since he felt he could not go along with the Obama fiscal policy for the "Bailout". During the evening, go to have good conversations with Obama White House people such as Dr. Kavita Patel who is assistant to Valerie Jarrett (closest person and friend to the POTUS) and Neerha Tandem who formerly was with Hillary Clinton and is now Special Assistant to the POTUS. Both said that they would get me to do some WH briefings and briefings of the HHS Secretary designee - Gov. Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas, whom I have never met. Zeke Emanuel was there and is establishing himself at OMB as the Health policy person since there are few other people who know about health.
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March 5, 2009 - Zuckerman Fellows reception at the home of Beth and Ron Dozoretz - 3005 - 45th Street, N.W. (around the corner from my house). Clear, nice night. Usual impressive event with Dave Gergon and Mort Zuckerman hosting the Fellows who are in town for the week to get a glimpse of how USG is run. I will lecture to them tomorrow. Met the usual crew from DC and had nice conversations: Tom Daschle - I expressed my sorrow at his misfortune of having to drop out of contention for HHS secretary. Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Nora O'Donnell (MSNBC), Gloria Borger (CNN), former Sec. Dan Glickman, Gen. George Casey, Ambassador from Israel, etc. The young people there was amazing: wounded vets of the Iraq war now going to Harvard Business School; Physicians studying economics, health people in government schools. You feel good about USA when you see these people.
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March 7, 2009 - Very interesting dinner at Café Milano thrown by Catherine and Wayne Reynolds for about 10 - 12 couples in the private room. Unseasonably warm (70 F) and clear (stars and moon) night. Guests include Gen. George and Sheila Casey (Army Chief-of-Staff). I sat between him and Marlene Malek (who was there with husband Fred). Also in attendance: Don Graham and Dana Priest (Washington Post); Beth and Ron Dozoretz; Francis Collins; Rick Atkinson (War Historian and best-selling author); Sen. Ted and Kathy Stevens; Jim Wolfensohn stopped in; Margaret Spellings (Former Sec. of Education); Joe Aldrich(?); and others whom I forget. Had Calamari, focaccio, Salad, Spaghetti and truffles, Chilean Sea Bass, chocolate soufflé, Jordan Chardonnay wine. Very lively discussion orchestrated by Catherine Reynolds. Francis Collins and I were asked to comment on Stem Cells - Pres. Obama has just announced that he is removing the ban on stem cell research on Monday by executive order. Chris also spoke on the ethics of the situation. I also spoke about the responsibility for Global Health. I also commented about the dire HIV/AIDS situation and the health care problems in the country and particularly with AIDS in Washington. They asked Gen. Casey to comment on Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey felt that we should have gone into Iraq and that we can be successful. He did not get much sympathy from the others, including me. When asked what "success" was, he commented on an Iraq or Afghanistan type democracy with order in a central government. Others, particularly Rick Atkinson, pointed out that a few thousand years of history would argue against this since there cannot be a "central government" democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sen. Stevens' comments were to the right of Attila the Hun and frankly quite naive -- he stated that Arabs are trying to take over the world by immigration in Europe and the USA (Oy!). Margaret Spellings spoke about the issue of education in this country and Jim Wolfensohn commented on the terrible situation of the economy. Jim said that the bailout to the banks was a failure since the banks did not use the money to lend; they used it to consolidate and pay dividends, which he feels is a waste of billions.
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Mar. 8, 2009 - Had my first entry into interactions with the new Administration. Background is that there have been recent reports of the terrible situation in Washington, D.C. regarding prevalence of HIV/AIDS with 3% of the population infected and 6.5% of black men. This is worse than 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We at NIAID and NIH (Fauci, Dieffenbach, and Henry Masur) have been putting together a collaborative program with DC Department of Health (Shannon Hader) to address this issue with a combined research-care program that also involves the recently promoted "test and treat" concept. This model (appeared in Lancet on Nov. 27, 2008) suggests that if you test everyone 1X per year and treat people immediately regardless of their CD4+ T cell count or viral load, you could decrease the level of virus in the community so that you could conceivably get the Ro to <1, which would in essence shut off the AIDS epidemic. Such a concept would require the answering of questions of safety, efficacy, adherence, access to people for testing, benefit to individual versus community, cost effectiveness, etc. We could help to district by making this "test and treat" research agenda a part of our collaborative effort with the District. While this is going on, Zeke Emanuel is now detailed to OMB as an assistant to OMB Director Peter Orzag to handle health related issues. Zeke heard about the initiative and feels that it would be a good idea to get the WH and the POTUS involved in an announcement of such a program for the District. Thus, I was called down to the OMB in Room 263 in EEOB to present the program. Zeke was present as was Jeff Crowley, the new WH AIDS Coordinator and Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy. Connected by phone was Jenny Backus (HHS Public 'ed in California and 1 the Affairs Director), Dora Hughes (General Counsel to the Secretary, HHS), Nick ?. I presented the proposal and they asked good questions and were very excited about it. We will proceed with rolling it out after nailing down a few details. While at the EEOB, I ran into Peter Orzag who greeted me as if we were friends. He clearly knew who I was from seeing me down the hall. Good news that this WH at least is up on what is going on in AIDS and health in general. Let us see how things evolve.
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March 13, 2009 -- Had fun day. Flew to NYC to participate in a "Science Rock Stars" photo shoot at the MILK Studios in the Meatpacking District of NYC -- 450 -- West 15% her connections at GQ Magazine and Geoffrey Beene Clothing, she arranged for an issue of GQ that matches real rock stars with "scientific stars" to draw attention of young people to science. I was involved as was Harold Varmus, Francis Collins and others. They matched us up with a rock star and took 1000s of pictures for a spread in the June issue of GQ. Harold Varmus and I were matched up with Sheryl Crow. She was terrific. The Geoffrey Beene people outfitted me in a great suit and then the fashion editor for GQ (Mike Nash) decided that he wanted a "hip" look for me so he opened my tie and shirt button, got rid of my jacket and replaced my dress shoes with sneakers. It was very cool. I met and spoke with WilI Am. Steve Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith Band were supposed to shoot with me also, but the timing was off. All in all it was a lot of fun.