A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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April 10, 2015 - Jack Whitescarver and Wendy Wertheimer sent in to Francis Collins their letter of resignation from the OAR. Jack is 78 and wanted to stay until he reached 80. However, he and Francis have not been getting along since Francis feels that Jack has been too slow and non-specific in shifting the AIDS money to focus on the high priority areas such as vaccine, prevention, cure and co-morbidities. The relationship has soured and so Jack feels that it is time to go. I, myself, love Jack, but am not satisfied with how they are handling the re-distribution of the AIDS money. Clearly there is too much AIDS money in NIDA and in NCI that is not being used for AIDS projects and to call it AIDS-related is a stretch. We had a meeting in my library today with Larry Tabak, Wendy W. and Jack to discuss this issue. I got pissed off at Wendy since she essentially accused me of saying (which I did not) that behavioral research grants were not good science. That is not what I said. I said that we were doing proportionately too much behavioral research out of NIDA and that the Congress (Rep Andy Harris R-MD et al) are trying to decrease the AIDS budget (see above) and we had better be spending it all on research that is high priority such as vaccine and cure; otherwise, they will have an excuse to cut the budget. Larry Tabak is totally in my corner and even Jack admitted that he agreed. However, the behavioralist community keeps pushing to do a lot of behavioral research. Clearly, the studies might be sound, but they do not contribute to the end of the pandemic. You can study behavior when it comes to AIDS; however, it has been very difficult to "change" behavior.
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April 11, 2015 - Went to Reception/dinner at Jamie Gorelick (former assistant attorney general in Clinton Adm) and Rich Waldron's home in Chevy Chase in honor of Roger Many errors and Glass winning the Sabin Medal for developing a rotavirus vaccine. Mostly NIH people and some of Roger's old friends.
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April 13, 2015 - Washington Nationals getting off to a very bad start. Many errors and no hitting. Also, their excellent pitching staff is getting blasted. Went to Tyson's Corner Ritz-Carlton at invitation of David Rubenstein (CEO of Carlyle Group) to talk to their annual meeting (~600 top CEO managers of Carlyle activities). Format was David interviewing me on Stage 1-on-1 right after lunch. David obviously is very taken up by me and really likes me (likewise). Remember, he tried to recruit me to Carlyle several years ago for $1 million flat salary plus commissions. Many in the group said to me that I was the best invited speaker at any of the former annual meetings. Besides, they pay the others a handsome honorarium. AAAS (new CEO Rush Holt) chose me to be one of a couple of people to give the laudation for Alan Leshner who is retiring as CEO of AAAS. Very elegant function at the Women's Museum of the Arts on New York Avenue and 12th Street, N.W. Alan was very moved by my remarks.
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April 17, 2015 - Had meeting at HHS in Room 305A in Humphrey Building with the Presidents of Liberia (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), Sierra Leone (Ernest Koroma) and Guinea (Alpha Conde) to discuss the status of the Ebola outbreak. Much good will with expressions of cooperation and collaboration. The Presidents insisted (appropriately) that we cannot rest until the cases go to zero. Also, they spoke of developing sustainable infrastructure that will be available for the next outbreak of Ebola or any other disease. President Koroma spoke of his desire to establish an African CDC. I described for President Sirleaf the successful implementation of the RCT for vaccine (in Liberia) and the RCT for ZMapp (in Liberia and Sierra Leone). She obviously already knew about this since we had briefed her previously and she knew that we were also helping to renovate clinics in Redemption Hospital and JFK Hospital in Monrovia. Of note, when President Conde heard that we were doing these trials in Liberia he expressed (through a French translator) his strong desire for us to do such trials in Guinea. Obviously, this is good news for Cliff who is trying to get around the nonsense of the Norwegians and WHO regarding their trying to stop us from doing the trial (see above). Meeting ended very well.
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2015-04-19 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
April 19, 2015 (Sunday) - Was inducted in the Washington, D.C. Hall of Fame (Historical Society of the District of Columbia). Category of Science and technology. Black tie affair at the Liason Hotel on New Jersey Avenue, N.W. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser was present and ceremony MC'd by Former DC mayor Sharon Pratt. Of note is fact that I was the only white person to be inducted (total of 12 inductees for various categories (arts, literature, law, business, etc.). Also, of the approximately 300 people in the ballroom, except for one other person, Chris and I were the only white people - all were African-American.
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April 21, 2015 - Pat White who now works for "ACT for NIH" got Chris and I invited to an affair at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center. It was an interview conducted on stage by Bob Shieffer (CBS Face the Nation) with Bill Clinton and Colin Powell. The evening was MC'd by Norah O'Donnell (NBC). Great interview. Elegant dinner followed upstairs in the Atrium. Had opportunity of nice conversations with President Clinton and especially Colin Powell who is always extremely friendly with me. Also chatted with Nancy Pelosi, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Mack McCarty, Sen. Richard Durbin among others. Really a fun evening. During the day, met with Mike Gerson who is interested in partnering with a producer to make a documentary of the global response to HIV, concentrating on the PEPFAR story. And so he met with me in my office for 1 hour to discuss various aspects of the historical evolution of PEPFAR.
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April 23, 2015 - Conference call with MSF (Joanne Liu and Sophie Delaunay), Tom Frieden and Cliff Lane about"BioBank" and study of specimens that had been stored from Ebola patients. Interesting that MSF, who has never been interested in research and who often put down research since that focused on care now want to lead the effort. Joanne and Sophie are good people and this manifests the dichotomy and heterogeneity of MSF. Many conflicts within their ranks. Bottom line is that we agreed since we all are interested in this that we do the best possible science with true transparency and that above all, the data belong to the West Africans.
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April 25, 2015 - Went with Chris to the Annual Garden Party at the Beall-Washington House at 2920 - R Street, N.W. that precedes the White House Correspondents' Dinner tonight. Usual DC scene of TV stars and Hollywood stars such as Michael Kelly from "House of Cards" among others. Many people commented about my performance on TV during the Ebola crisis this past Fall. The Brunch was sponsored by Steve and Jean Case, Tammy Haddad, Mark Ein, etc.. That evening went to WH Correspondents's Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue and Florida Avenue. Was guest of Tom Burton and the Wll Street Journal. President Obama gave good comedy show followed by Saturday Night Live's Cecily Johnson. She was not particularly funny, but OK.
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April 26, 2015 - Went to the Annual NAS Garden Party at NAS Headquarters on C Street and 22-23rd Street, N.W. Usual scene of seeing old friends. As always, great to see Max and Rosalie Cooper.