A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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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.
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2013-12-03 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Dec. 3, 2013 - Hectic but very good day. Started early in AM and went to Reserve Officers Association at one Constitution Avenue, N.E. for a Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB, and Malaria had a breakfast. Multiple speeches; Moderated by Mike Gerson; several speakers called me out for my "pioneering work on HIV/AIDS" including Bill Gates, Nancy Pelosi, Mike Gerson and others. I left the meeting at 9:00 AM, went to the AAI Council meeting in Rockville as I do every year to update them on NIAID and then immediately went to DCA to fly to NYC to attend as guest of Bob Seder and Debbie Harmon the Women for Women Gala in honor of Hillary Clinton at the American Museum of Natural History at W 79th Street and Central Park West. I stayed at the Excelsior on W 81st. It was an amazing evening. I was among about 12 people who greeted and had special 'audience" with Hillary Clinton. At my table (#18) was my "dinner date" Cheryl Mills (we are becoming good friend), Virginia Moseley (VP and Deputy Bureau Chief of CNN), Marty Edelman (Counsel to real estate practice - big contributor to Wounded Warriors project), Norma Kamali (Fashion designer - flakey and interesting lady who wants me to come to NYC again and talk to her "health group" about immune enhancing), Nella Domenici (Daughter of Sen. Pete Domenici and sisterin-law to Cheryl Mills), Ngozi Eze Nigeria Country Director for Women for Women), Susan Goldberg (Exec. Editor of Bloomberg News). Also met with Sheryl Sandberg ("Lean in" and COO of Facebook). Also, importantly met Jeff Zients who fixed the computer catastrophe of the role out of Obamacare. Jeff will likely become Economic Advisor to Obama. All-in-all a very festive evening. Clinton gave a great speech. Returned to DC on 6:00 AM on Dec. 4 shuttle in time to be on panel at Georgetown University Copley Lounge of the Global Fund. Was on panel with Eric Goosby, Tom Frieden, Admiral Tim Ziemer (head of the President's Malaria Initiative). My panel moderated by Larry Gostin. Mark Dybul gave very moving speech as Keynote.
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Dec. 5, 2013 - Meningococcal meningitis breakout among a few students at Princeton and then at UC Santa Barbara. Was on WTOP radio today to discuss. Was Group B for which we do not have an FDA approved vaccine for in the USA. Used in Europe and Australia. FDA giving emergency use authorization for use in Princeton. fice scuss Social e usual media. ee attachment for daily Had dinner with Danny Hultzen and Chris Hultzen. Danny had significant operation on torn labium and rotator cuff in his left (pitching) arm. On rehabilitation now. Amazing that he was 5 and 1 with a 2.3 ERA in AAA ball pitching at 93 mph with torn shoulder ligaments. Hopefully he will fully recover since he was slated to go up to MLB last year.
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Dec. 14, 2013 - Had quick trip to NYC on Saturday for Editorial Board meeting of HPIM. Big issue is the decreased sales of the printed book, particularly domestically. Reason clearly is that students and others are not using print books very much to study and learn and look up material. Almost all online. We need to emphasize more out online versions, i.e. iPAD, HOL, HP, etc. Good to see the other editors.
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Dec. 17, 2013 - Grant Colfax, the White House AIDS person and Directors of the Office of Nation AIDS Policy (ONAP) called me to give me heads-up that he was stepping down. Interesting since he has been on the job for only 1.5 years. Not sure what his reason was for stepping down. He is returning the San Francisco.
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Dec. 27, 2013 - Influenza season starting to spike with predominance of 2009 H1N1. Interesting that ever since 2009, the 2009 H1N1 has bumped H3N2 off as the major strain that circulates during seasonal flu. I appeared on CNN "The Lead". Interviewed by Joe Johns who was subbing for Jake Tapper.