A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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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.
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2013-11-19 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
November 19, 2013 - Yesterday I appeared on Local TV Station WUSA - Channel 9 News at 7:00 PM to discuss the recent outbreak of meningococcal meningitis at Princeton University. Since March, 2012 that have been a total of seven cases of meningitis among Princeton students. Six of the cases were among resident students and one was a case from a visitor. The type of the meningitis was meningococcal type B, which is not contained in the vaccine that is distributed generally among students and young people in United States. The standard vaccine contains types A, C, Y, and W-135.. None of the students died from the meningitis. I will be appearing today on the radio WTOP to discuss the situation. The FDA has given approval for importation of type B vaccines from Novartis Company in Switzerland. It still remains to get approval from the institutional review board of the CDC. As usual HHS Public affairs has balked at my going on the media because they consider this a CDC issue. This time with support from John Burklow, we asked for permission, they said no, and I went on TV last night anyway. I am going to appear on radio this morning again. This is a turning point in our relationship with HHS who continue in a completely crazy way to rty to block our going on the media in situations that they feel belong to CDC even though the Media specifically ask for me.
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November 20, 2013 - This was one of the most magical evenings that I have had in Washington in the 40 years that I have been here. I was invited with Christine to go to a Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the conferring of the Presidential Medals of Freedom. The event was held at the Smithsonian Museum of American History on 1300 Constitution Ave. NW., District of Columbia. The event was in celebration of several things. It commemorated the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. It also was the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Presidential Medals of Freedom by Pres. Kennedy. We found out in a historical examination of the situation that Kennedy established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February of 1963. He was intending to give out the first metals in December of 1963. However, as we know, sadly he was assassinated on November 23, 1963. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson went ahead and conferred the medals one month after the death of Pres. Kennedy. He conferred the Medal to Pres. Kennedy post-humously and gave it to Jacqueline Kennedy who received it on her deceased husband's behalf. The reception and dinner that was held at the Museum of American History was extraordinary. Virtually everyone who is anybody in Washington, DC was there and it was highly populated by people who in the past had received the Medal. I had the opportunity to speak with Pres. Obama, President Clinton, as well as a nice conversation with Hillary Clinton. It was also the first time that I had the opportunity to speak with first lady Michelle Obama. The number of celebrities that were brought together for a group picture of all the former Medal winners as well as the people who recently won this year including people like Ben Bradley, Ernie Banks and others. It was truly an extraordinary evening. I mingled and talked with Ernie Banks and Hank Aaron, Bill Russell, generals, statesmen, et cetera. The evening was highlighted by a speech by Pres. Obama regarding the legacy of Pres. John F. Kennedy. In a poignant point in the evening, Pres. Obama was introduced in his speech by Jack Schlossberg who is the son of Caroline Kennedy and the grandson of Pres. Kennedy. Sitting at my table was former CIA director and FBI Dir. Bob Webster, Doug Kramer who is the former staff secretary to the President and currently General Counsel for USAID. Sitting right next to Christine was the legendary race car driver Richard Petty. All in all it was a truly spectacular evening there was entertainment by one of this year's Medal winner, Cuban musician Arturo Sandoval who was a protégé of Dizzy Gillespie. He gave one of the most extraordinary trumpet performances that I have ever heard in addition to extraordinary singing ability and a phenomenal piano piece that he played. Again this was truly an extraordinary evening. It was black tie, elegant setting. Military regalia as per the presence of the POTUS. The night was chilly, crisp and clear. LIST OF ATTENDEES AT GALA on Nov. 20: Expected Attendees at the Dinner in Honor of Presidential Medal of Freedom Awardees The White House.mht
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November 21, 2013 - Funding of PEPFAR and Replenishment of Global Fund to Fight Aid TB and Malaria (GFATM) - Over the past several days there has been considerable activity about the issue facing the funding of PEPFAR for 2015. The activists are pushing to have 12 million people on therapy by 2016. The global goal is 15 million people on therapy by 2015. The Obama administration will not give additional funding for PEPFAR that would allow them to reasonably achieve the goal of 12 million people on therapy by 2016. Therefore, the State Department and the people at PEPFAR are struggling with how to message something that would be disappointing when you look at the numbers. I've had pre-calls with Deborah VonZinkernagel and today (Nov. 21, 2013) we had a call with three people from the State Department - Daniella BallouAares, Lorrie McHugh-Wytkind, Eric Goosby and Deborah. I was up in NYC for the day to appear on an Atlantic Magazine-sponsored panel and Webinar on a similar subject: "Talk is Cheap: Saving Lives, Ending AIDS and Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is". As an aside, other participants in that Atlantic Magazine panel where Peter Staley, Nancy Mahon (MAC Cosmetics), Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia), Phill Wilson (Black AIDS Institute), Luis Loures (UNAIDS). Stephen Lewis (AIDS-Free World), Wafaa El-Sadr, Danny Resnic (Origami Condoms) and Deborah Persaud (Hopkins). The Session was a big hit. Back to the telephone conversation with PEPFAR and State. I made the strong suggestion that the PEPFAR people and the Department of State bite the bullet and tell the truth about what they can and cannot do. One of the problems is that if they stick by the promised numbers without the resources to achieve those numbers it will turn out that they will overpromise something that they cannot deliver on. Note the similarity to the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act - a true mess-up). I warned them as to the danger of this. They should suggest to the White House that they assume a leadership role in getting the entire global community to increase their support of the treatment goals. We cannot get to that goal ourselves since we do not have the resources. I feel that it would be appropriate for us to put more resources in. However, OMB refuses to put any more than just about $150 million more into the 2015 PEPFAR budget. The phone call went well and I hope that they take my advice. More to come. Announcement was made today that David Ho and I have won the Prince Mahidol Award from Thailand. We will receive it for medical research and Peter Piot and Jim Kim will receive it for Public Health. Ceremony will take place in Bangkok on January 28, 2014
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November 26, 2013 - We here at NIH have been working on the schedule for the visit of Bill Gates to the NIH on December 2, 2013. There was considerable concern that this might conflict with the annual World AIDS Day celebration at the White House which would involve Pres. Obama that might be scheduled on December 2. However the White House announced that they will have the celebration on December 3 which avoided a conflict with the Bill Gates visit. Considerable planning went into the scheduled Gates visit with my playing a major role in showing him around and leading discussions. However I just heard literally minutes ago from the White House that the World AIDS Day ceremony will take place on Monday, December 2. This directly overlaps and conflicts with the Bill Gates visit. This will be very disruptive and upsetting to both Bill Gates and the NIH since the last time Bill Gates was scheduled to visit the NIH was the time that the government shut down in October, 2013. I will wait further instructions from the White House since I have been assigned a major speaking role at the World AIDS Day celebration at the White House. I am supposed to speak on the "Care Continuum" and the road to a "cure" for HIV/AIDS. More to follow.
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December 2, 2013 - Monday and cold cloudy day is DC. Celebration of World AIDS Day (WAD) today since December 1 was a Sunday. Also, Bill Gates visited NIH to deliver Barnes Lecture and to be shown around NIH: Gates - Francis Collins, I, and Clif Barry showed Bill Gates around the BSL-3 containment facility in Building 33 where we do experiment on marmosets with drugresistant TB. Clif does drug screening. We suited up with all the contained gear ("space suits") and had a good time showing Bill around. This was followed by a roundtable discussion with certain IC Directors (me, Varmus, Pettigrew, Guttmacher, Glass, Somerman and Collins. I know Bill well from multiple interactions over the years and I spoke with him about our ongoing collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) over the years. I did not remain for his lecture since I had to rush down to the White House for the WAD ceremony White House - Ceremony in the South Court Auditorium of the WH. Speeches by POTUS, Sec. Kerry, Sec. Sebelius, Valerie Jarrett, Cecilia Munoz (Domestic policy Council). Panel with Collins, Gates, Dybul, Chris Beyrer (Hopkins), Amanda Castel (GWU), Kali Lindsey (National Minority Council), and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Minister of Finance of Nigeria). POTUS had announced a reprogramming from within AIDS budget at NIH $100 million over 3 years for a "Cure Initiative". I was asked and gave the final talk of the ceremony on the links between the care continuum and a cure. Very well received. I, of course, am somewhat cynical about a "cure initiative" with no new money. Global Fund Replenishment - Today and tomorrow are the 2 big days for countries to meet here in DC to pledge for the next 3 year cycle of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. I attended meeting at Willard Hotel where Sec Kerry gave a terrific speech.