A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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April 27, 2013 - Went with Chris to White House Correspondence Garden Brunch at Beall-Washington House on 2920 R Street, N.W. Tammy Haddad as usual MC'd it. Sponsored by CURE Epilepsy and the Miss America Foundation. Great party. Fantastic weather - bright sun and 70 degrees. Usual cast of celebrities - political, media and Hollywood. Ran into old friends David Axelrod, Sharon Stone, Nora O'Donnell, Charlie Rose, Gordon Peterson. Discussed NIH budget with Eric Cantor. Had most fun meeting and taking picture with Navid Negahban who played the archterrorist Abu Nazir on "Homeland" (Showtime). We told him how much we admired his work. He sort of recognized me but not quite. After a few minutes, he came over to me and said how impressed he was about how many lives I have saved and as he was saying it, he choked up. He clearly had asked someone who I was. Seems like a fine human being.
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April 29, 2013 - Went to dinner at Matisse Restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue and Fessenden Avenue, N.W. I took out Richard (Rick) Atkinson to dinner to get his advice on writing my book (autobiography). He was extremely helpful on how to approach this and gave me several names of agents, editors, historians, etc. he encouraged me to "shop around" for the best people. He confirmed what Edwin Grosvner and Ari Emanuel said that I clearly have a NY Times bestseller and possibly Pulitzer Prize autobiography in me and encouraged me strongly to pursue this. I am very excited (almost agitated) about doing this. I have a worrisome feeling that the USG will not allow me to do this. Even though it is MY autobiography, most of it relates to my government service. I will probe this and see what happens. Parenthetically, the Washington Nationals, who are supposed to win the World Series this year on the basis of pure talent have gotten off to a bad start. The only people that are doing great thus far are Bruce Harper and Jordan Zimmerman. ***H7N9 continues to occur in China from chickens to human → 126 cases and 24 deaths. Still confined to China. Need to keep an eye on this.
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May 1, 2013 - Attended the "Heroes of Military Medicine Awards at the Mellon Auditorium on 13th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. I was present because Lt. Col. Nelson Michael (my old friend) was receiving one of the awards and I had been part of the video that was shown at the event that honored him. Nice affair. Inspiring keynote address by Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander of United States Special Operations Command (the group - Seal Team 6 that got Osama bin Laden). Other awardees besides Nelson were USAF Lt. Col. Raymond Fang - Trauma surgeon with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke by video since he is currently deployed in Afghanistan. Also Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Darrel L. Enos - 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion who received it posthumously - killed in action. Entire evening very moving. Special awards to Marine Staff Sergeant Johnny Joseph (Joey) Jones who got his legs blown off while trying to dismantle and IED in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. I was in tears after his speech. Also talks by Gen. Jack Keane (USA- retired), Gen. James Amos (USMC). Special Award to Gen Joseph F. Dunford (USMC), Commander of Forces in Afghanistan who spoke in video from Afghanistan. General Amos introduced him. Gen. James Peake, Former US Army Surgeon General and currently Sec. of Department of Veteran Affairs received a special award. He fought as a combat platoon leader in Viet Nam and was highly decorated with Silver Star, Bronze Star with V device and Purple Heart. After war, went to Cornell Medical School, became a cardiac surgeon - quite a guy. I have known him for years. Mistress of Ceremonies was Jennifer Griffin of FOX News Channel. When she called out "notables" in the audience, she mentioned my name. I was embarrassed to be called out together with General McRaven, Amos, Peake and others. The evening made me proud to be an American.
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May 6, 2013 - H7N9 still smoldering, but with the closing of some of the open bird markets in China, the pace of new cases has slowed. 130 cases and 31 deaths total. HHS is now allowing me to do press on this without hassle. Francis Collins meeting with Bill Corr has apparently worked (see above). Went to cocktail reception/book signing for Paul Farmer's new book - "To Repair the World" at home of Greg and Derry Craig on 3155 Highland Place, N.W.; also cosponsored by Tim Broas. Paul, as usual, was very generous in his remarks about my accomplishments in being the architect of PEPFAR and the influence that I had on his career. Several notables there including Kathleen Matthews and Paul Wolfowitz. Had good conversation with Paul about how we worked together when he was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Paul gave 2 signed books to me - one for Chris and me and one for Jenny. Also, I spoke with Paul about getting one of his acolytes to come work for me as my assistant at NIAID. (Turns out I contacted one Hillary Marston who will be joining me in August - see below))
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2013-05-07 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
May 7, 2013 - Went to the Capitol with Francis Collins to meet with the House Majority Whip - Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Kevin is very interested in the problem of Valley Fever (Coccicioidomycosis) in his district of Bakersfield. We discussed having a workshop and partnering with CDC in doing clinical trials of new drugs such as Nippo Z and developing a vaccine. Good idea to cultivate relationship with McCarthy, given his position. yrona
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May 8, 2013 - Appeared on NPR Morning Edition radio with Richard Knox regarding H7N9 flu. Also, gave Opening Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the HPTN/IMPAACT Networks held at Marriott Wardman Hotel on Calvert Street, N.W. Myron (Mike) Cohen presented me with a basketball signed to me from Roy Williams, head coach at UNC. Mike gave it to me to "neutralize" the signed basketball that I received years ago from Duke Head Coach Mike K.
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May 9, 2013 - Had Congressional visit here at NIH in the Clinical Center medical Board Room on 4th Floor of Building10. Delegation led by Eric Cantor (R-VA). Also present were Congressmen Andy Harris (R-MD), Elliot Engel (D-NY), Ted Yoho (R-FL), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Renee Ellmers (R-NC). Tim Murphy (R-PA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). NIH was represented by me, Francis Collins, Gary Gibbons, Eric Green, Chris Austin, Larry Tabak, Kathy Hudson, John Gallin. We were trying (successfully) to familiarize them with the NIH and what we do. Also, to impress on them the damage due to sequestration. I spoke about the major advances in treatment of HIV and the possibility of a universal Influenza vaccine. All in all it was a very good meeting. Went to Book party at the home of Bob and Deborah Seder in honor of Andrea Redmond who co-authored book called "Rwanda, Inc." about entrepreneurship in Rwanda and the effect on the economy. Had long conversation with my good friend Cheryl Mills, Former Chief-of-Staff to Sec. Hillary Clinton and long-time Counselor to Clinton about the "scandal" associated with the Benghazi incident where the Republicans are trying to attack the Administration and especially Hillary Clinton for negligence/incompetence in not protecting and responding in time to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya in which the US Ambassador was killed. Cheryl says that the whistle-blower Greg Hicks is clearly not telling the story as it happened with regard to the State Department responding or not to the threats against the embassy. I obviously believe Cheryl.
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May 13, 2013 - Slow down of activity on H7N9; uptick of activity with MERS Corona virus (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). I appeared today on WTOP and BBC television discussing MERS CoV.
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May 15, 2013 - Testified at the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing for NIH today. Testified with Francis Collins, Harold Varmus, Story Landis, Richard Hodes and Gary Gibbons. Friendly Hearing. Asked me questions about DURC, Antibiotic resistant bacteria, H7N9 influenza pre-pandemic, universal flu vaccines and autoimmunity. As mentioned many times above, the Hearings are very different from 10-20 years ago. We had 2 hours for the entire NIH, when back then we had a week of Hearing with individual half-days for the big institutes.