April 15, 2014 - Testified at a House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing at 10:00

Diary Prequel Package, p.448 · diary_prequel:entry:01194

Date: 2014-04-15 00:00 (day precision)
Type: diary entry · diary
author: Anthony S. Fauci
Topics: Congressional oversight

April 15, 2014 - Testified at a House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing at 10:00 AM in Room 2358B of the Rayburn Building. Topic was Ebola response. I represented NIH. Also testifying was Nicki Lurie (ASPR), Tom Frieden and Robin Robinson (BARDA). I did well, but Nicki and Tom caught some criticism for the fact that the ETUs that they recommended got built and only 2 of 11 actually admitted a patient and of the 2 that admitted patients, only 25 patients were seen. Criticism was the lack of flexibility to stop the building when it became clear that the epidemic was decreasing rapidly as they were building the ETUs. Committee nevertheless complimented us on the Ebola response. Rep. Harris (R-MD) was a bit snarky with Tom Frieden saying that his daughter is an ICU nurse at Hopkins and she does not know how to don PPE and that reflects a lack of planning on the part of the USG. He is misguided. Had disturbing meeting with Francis Collins, Larry Tabak, Jim Anderson, and Kathy Hudson in Building 1, Room 116 concerning the re-prioritization of the AIDS budget through OAR. It is now clear that Francis not only wants to assure that the highest priority AID research is done with AIDS dollars, he actually wants to decrease the amount of money going for AIDS research and redirect it to non-AIDS, i.e. decrease the AIDS allocation. He is using the review of the AIDS portfolio as an excuse for this. I warned him that this is not a good idea and will be met with pushback from the community. I also believe that Francis might be trying to ingratiate himself with the GOP since he may be covering his bets in case a Republican becomes POTUS and he wants to keep his job as NIH Director. Just a thought.

In context

A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.

2014-04-08 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 8, 2014 - Went to Princeton for the day to give "Public Lecture" at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Invited by Dean Cecilia Elena Rouse (formerly with Hillary Clinton). Met with students (lunch), chaperoned by Adel Mahmoud, gave lecture on pandemic influenza preparedness with many questions. Good visit. Ran into my old high school friend and college roommate - Lou LoBosco. S-CoV and Ebola er, whom I te swearing in ate Department. he aynes and
2014-04-09 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 9, 2014 - Larry Corey flew in from Seattle to see me. He is still dissatisfied with Mary Marovich - Vaccine person at DAIDS. He feels she cannot make a decision and shows no leadership.
2014-04-14 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 14, 2014 - Continued smoldering of cases of Ebola in Guinea (and spread to Liberia) has sustained media interest. I appeared on NBC Nightly News for this tonight
2014-04-15 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 15, 2014 - I appeared on WTOP radio for MERS-CoV and Ebola
2014-04-15 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci

April 15, 2014 - Testified at a House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing at 10:00 AM in Room 2358B of the Rayburn Building. Topic was Ebola response. I represented NIH. Also testifying was Nicki Lurie (ASPR), Tom Frieden and Robin Robinson (BARDA). I did well, but Nicki and Tom caught some criticism for the fact that the ETUs that they recommended got built and only 2 of 11 actually admitted a patient and of the 2 that admitted patients, only 25 patients were seen. Criticism was the lack of flexibility to stop the building when it became clear that the epidemic was decreasing rapidly as they were building the ETUs. Committee nevertheless complimented us on the Ebola response. Rep. Harris (R-MD) was a bit snarky with Tom Frieden saying that his daughter is an ICU nurse at Hopkins and she does not know how to don PPE and that reflects a lack of planning on the part of the USG. He is misguided. Had disturbing meeting with Francis Collins, Larry Tabak, Jim Anderson, and Kathy Hudson in Building 1, Room 116 concerning the re-prioritization of the AIDS budget through OAR. It is now clear that Francis not only wants to assure that the highest priority AID research is done with AIDS dollars, he actually wants to decrease the amount of money going for AIDS research and redirect it to non-AIDS, i.e. decrease the AIDS allocation. He is using the review of the AIDS portfolio as an excuse for this. I warned him that this is not a good idea and will be met with pushback from the community. I also believe that Francis might be trying to ingratiate himself with the GOP since he may be covering his bets in case a Republican becomes POTUS and he wants to keep his job as NIH Director. Just a thought.
2014-04-17 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 17, 2014 - Went to Harvard School of Public Health to appear on their web broadcast of "Senior Leadership Series". Nice experience. Hosted by David Hunter and Dean Julio Frenk present. Many good questions about my accomplishments and leadership style. Broadcast on web throughout the world.
2014-04-18 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 18-24, 2014 - Preparing by phone with Bart Haynes and Dennis Kasper, whom I am presenting for nomination for National Academy of Sciences next week.
2014-04-24 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 24, 2014 - Went to private dinner at café Milano to celebrate swearing in tomorrow of Deborah Birx as Ambassador in charge of PEPFAR.
2014-04-25 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open

April 25, 2014 - Swearing in of Deb Birx at Franklin Room of the State Department. Big crowd and festivity. Immediately after swearing in, went to PAHO (a block away) to give talk at the 10th Anniversary of the Sabin Vaccine Institute. Many old friends there - Peter Hotez, D.A. Henderson, Ciro deQuadros, etc.

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