A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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May 30-31, 2012 - Went to NYC to give Commencement Address at Brooklyn College and receive an honorary degree. Bright sunny day. I lot of déjà vu driving from Manhattan to Brooklyn through Atlantic Avenue and then Bedford Avenue. God bless Brooklyn College, they tried (for the first time in their history) have all 1600 graduates from all of their schools come on the stage to shake the hand of the President - Karen Gould. My co-recipient of an honorary doctorate was the jazz legend Cecil Taylor, a feeble old man, but very gentle. Sen. Chick Schumer came and said a few words to the graduates. Brooklyn Borough President gave a hilarious speech about Brooklyn. Had dinner with Jenny the night before. Went to Kefi restaurant on 85th and Columbus Avenue. I never really appreciated the West Side of Manhattan when I lived for so many years on the East Side. Jenny is an amazing young woman who is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants in life. She is currently a graduate student at Teachers College of Columbia University getting a Masters in Developmental Psychology. On May 30 right before I left for NYC, CNN's Wolf Blitzer's producer called and said that Wolf wanted me on CNN Situation Room to discuss a recent paper by Peter Hotez (formerly of GW and now at Baylor) who wrote a paper in PLoS journal saying that Chagas disease was the new HIV/AIDS. I like Peter, but I had to contradict this potentially misleading statement. I could not appear live and so CNN did a telephone interview and showed me testifying at a Congressional Hearing at the same time that they played my voiced interview. Nice trick.
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June 1, 2012 - NIAID had our annual spring policy retreat at the Hilton Hotel in Rockville which was a meeting between our group and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in order to determine possibilities of strengthening current collaborations and forging new collaborations. Present at the meeting were the senior leadership of the Institute together with Trevor Mundel (President of the Global Health Program for the BMGF), Nina Russell, Dan Hartmann, Chris Wilson and Jan..... The discussions went very well and I feel that our collaborations will strengthen. I was impressed by the sincerity of Trevor. In the early evening, paid tribute to Ed Tramont at a symposium in his honor at the USUHS across the street from NIH. Tornadoes and thunderstorms hit the DC area during the late afternoon and early evening.
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June 9, 2012 - Went with Chris to Annual Garden Party at the home of Jamie Gorelick and Rich Waldron. Usual good time with the usual Washington elite there, i.e. Ruth Marcus, Chris Matthews, etc. Always good to see Jamie and Rich. Wonder whether Jamie will ever get back into USG.
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June 12, 2012 - Had dinner over my house with the 3 week-day bachelors (i.e. their wives live and work in different cities): Harold Varmus (Connie in NYC); Gary Nabel (Betsy in Boston); and Eric Goosby (Nancy in San Francisco). I served a Ziti pasta with grilled shrimp and tomato sauce. Had great time - good friends all.
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2012-06-14 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
June 14, 2012 - At the invitation of Larry Kramer, I attended the "official" opening of "The Normal Heart" at the Arena Stage Theater. Had dinner with Larry and NYC and DC theater notables in the absolutely beautiful new atrium in the new Arena Stage (totally different from when Chris and I had season tickets decades ago). The play was amazing - truly moving. Had reception afterwards and met the cast and the Director (George C. Wolfe) who, according to Larry, is the top Director on Broadway today.
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June 15, 2012 - Went to a cocktail reception honoring Larry Kramer at the home of Don and Ann Brown at 3005 Audubon Terrace, N.W.; Washington, DC). Ann is a childhood and high school friend of Larry from when he lived in DC. Larry went to Woodrow Wilson High School. Amazingly elegant home. Brought Chris as well as Megan and Ali, who was in DC for 3 days between Stanford (just finished her exams) and Seattle (summer job with Microsoft). Also met Larry's partner - David Webster - really nice man. Good that Megan and Ali and Chris got to see Larry. I explained to Meg and Ali what an iconic and controversial figure Larry was and is. Also, for past months I have been preparing for and putting together my Plenary Talk for the IAS on July 23. Need to get it done since I go to the big Harrison's meeting in Martha's Vineyard for 9 days right before the IAS meeting and need to get my talk finished and out of the way before I go to the Vineyard.
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June 22, 2012 - In Boston today to participate in the 200th Anniversary Celebration of the New England Journal of Medicine. I had been asked to write one of about 12 articles over the year 2012 (NEJM started in 1812) summarizing the advances in a given field. Obviously, my assignment was Infectious Diseases. My article came out a few months ago - co-author was David Morens. The symposium today was reflection on 30+ years of HIV. I gave the opening overview lecture and then there were comments from David Ho, Bob Massie, Beatrice Hahn, and Paul Farmer. Moderator was Marty Hirsch and Panel discussion followed. Held at Joseph Martin Auditorium across the street from Harvard medical School on 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue. Hot, hot June day over >95 degrees. Nice conference. Audience filled with medical students from all over the world who won essay-writing competition.
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June 28, 2012 - Supreme Court with Chief Justice Roberts pulling an amazing maneuver actually confirms the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, but calls the Individual Mandate a "tax". Everyone thought that he would be the deciding vote against, but he was the deciding vote for the Law. Nonetheless, by calling the mandate a "tax" he makes Obama look bad since Obama has always insisted that it was not a tax.
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June 29, 2012 Had a historic thunderstorm with winds up to 80 to 90 miles an hour on the night of June 29. Major power outages were experienced throughout the area. No major damage to my house but again we have several days and up to a week of power outages. Incredible how PEPCO can let outages go for 1 week. ul play. Many