A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Oct. 18, 2013 - Terrific meeting today. Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer of Janssen research Foundation, part of Johnson & Johnson called me months ago asking to have a meeting since he wanted to support and develop the Ad26 vector - HIV mosaic insert vaccine candidate of Dan Barouch. I have always liked working with Paul since he is the real deal as an honest scientist and smart drug developer/businessman. He came in from Belgium with a team from Crucell company that was recently purchased by Janssen. Team was Hannecke Shuitemacher, Maria Grazia Pau, and Johan Van Hoof We discussed the plan for collaborating via DAIDS, HVTN and VRC with the development of this product for Phase 1 and thenPhase 2a and 2b if the early studies dictate. Could possibly be an historic meeting if this works out.
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Oct. 19, 2013 -- Went to IOM president's dinner at the NAS on 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. to celebrate the end of Harvey Feinberg's 2 terms (12 years -- 8 months left) as President. Was at Table with Peggy Hamberg and her dad David Hamberg (former President of IOM) and her mother Beatrix. I was impressed at how old so many of the IOM folks look, i.e. Sam Their (with a cane), Roger Bolger, Stuart Bonderant, etc. It was a pleasant evening. I went to show respect for my old friend Harvey Feinberg, but in general, it confirms that I do not like being "trapped" at a table for dinners.
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Oct. 21, 2013 --
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October 22, 2013 - - I went to New York City to receive the Pro Bono Humanum Award of the Galien Foundation. The ceremony was in the Museum of Natural History on 79th St. and Central Park West. Prior to the ceremony I went up to New York for a few hours early to visit Larry Kramer who is recovering in the Village Care Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at 214 W. Houston St. in Greenwich Village. It was a somewhat cloudy overcast day with an occasional breakthrough of sunshine. I visited Larry in the facility and I was somewhat shocked by how thin and cachectic he was. We had a good conversation about how he is doing and I encouraged him to continue to push to get back on his feet. He is having trouble walking and he is very weak. I will consider the possibility of bringing him to the National Institutes of Health for further rehabilitation. Following the visit to Larry I went back to my hotel which was the Hotel Excelsior on 81st St. between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. The ceremony at the Museum of Natural History was stunning in the positive sense. I completely underestimated the importance of this particular function. The annual function makes three major awards to biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies, and companies that develop devices. It is essentially the Academy Awards of pharmaceutical/biotech companies. I gave the keynote address associated with my receiving the Pro Bono Humanum Award. This award is given every year. Over the past 3 years it has been won by Francis Collins, Paul Farmer, and Bill Clinton. The dinner gala was held in the Whale Room of the Museum of Natural History. All the elite of the biotech world, the pharmaceutical world, and the academic world were in the audience, which consisted of about 500 people I gave an address on "Ending the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: From Scientific Advances to Public Health Implementation. Importantly I was introduced and presented the award by Elie Wiesel. It was an extraordinary honor to receive the award by him. I returned to Washington DC first thing in the morning to a very busy week.
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2013-10-27 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
October 27, 2013 - Went to reception and showing of a movie by famed young Indian actor, director, producer Aamir Khan at Jefferson Hotel at invitation of Catherine and Wayne Reynolds. Film was on female fetocide in Indian culture. Quite moving. Khan is a multi-millionaire visionary and pioneer for human right causes.
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October 28, 2013 - Appeared via teleconference at a NY State AIDS Institute Conference in NYC organized by Mark Harrington and TAG. They wanted my input on how we can truly put an end to the AIDS epidemic in NY State. Mark Dybul phoned in after me from Geneva and the Global Fund.
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October 31, 2013 - Been in press over past few days regarding recent papers in Science and other journals on the HIV envelope resolution by cryo-EM by Ian Wilson, Dennis Burton, John Moore. Also on WTOP today regarding polio in Syria.
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Nov. 3, 2013 - Went to San Francisco for day - flew in the AM, gave Keynote at the Lancet/Cell Conference on "Achieving an AIDS-Free World". My talk was widely quoted and praised for its comprehensive analysis of the opportunity and challenges in achieving an AIDS-Free world. Richard Horton (Editor of The Lancet) praised me in several subsequent commentaries and editorials. This is now a highly visible and muchdiscussed issue of an AIDS-free generation. I am leading the discussion, but with the usual caveats that it is not yet time for a "victory lap" since much needs to be done and despite great scientific and implementation advances, this is not on automatic pilot. I flew back on "red eye". Hence 12 hours in the air and about 10 hours in SF. This is my life.
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Nov. 11-16, 2013 - Great trip with Christine to visit Oxford and give the Unither Baruch Blumberg Lecture at Oxford on "Ending the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: From Scientific Advances to Public Health Implementation". Met with Raymond Dwek and other colleagues. Visited historic sites within Oxford and enjoyed seeing places where Willis (Circle of Willis), Harvey (circulation) and Francis bacon lived and went to school. I am not usually moved by these things, but this was good. On Nov. 13-14, went to Berlin to receive the Robert Koch Gold Medal. Great honor. Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University received the Robert Koch Prize for his work on microbiome. My Medal was for lifetime achievement in medical science. Peter Palese gave the best introduction of me ever. He seriously compared my career to that of Robert Koch in that I attacked a brand new disease (HIV/AIDS) in the same manner that Koch approached and studied Anthrax, TB, etc. It was a humbling and exciting visit. I gave the Robert Koch Lecture at the Max Planck Institute and reacted with many students. Also saw old friends Stefan Kaufman (nominated me), Fritz Melchers, Hermann Wagner, etc. Visited Checkpoint Charley, Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag. Great honor and enjoyable visit.