A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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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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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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2013-05-09 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
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.
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May 17, 2013 - Interesting dinner with my friends Catherine and Wayne Reynolds at Adour Restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel on 16th and K Streets, N.W. Other guests were John Rogers who was Assistant to the President during the Reagan Administration. He remembered me from back then. He went off to be Deputy to Jim Baker when Baker became Secretary of State for Reagan. His wife Deborah was charming and a nice evening was had by all. John sharply criticized Obama's energy policy saying that his slowing down Shale drilling and the Alaska pipeline is preventing us from becoming completely energy independent.
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May 18, 2013 -- At work on Saturday. Chris flew to Sacramento to see Ali compete in the PAC-12 crew meet. I am home with Megan who is studying for the MCAT exam next week with her friend Iman. Meg just finished her post-baccalaureate pre-med year at Hopkins. Will take MCAT on May 23.