A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
2015-04-25 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
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.
-
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.
-
April 28, 2015 - Wonderful evening at the home of Ambassador Esther Coopersmith (2230 S Street, N.W.) who gave "A List" party in honor of Barbra Streisand who is a strong advocate of the Women's Heart Alliance, an organization calling attention to the unrecognized burden of heart disease among women. Beautiful DC Spring evening (magical) - perfect temperature, crystal clear sky. I had the pleasure of spending much face-to-face time with Barbra. She clearly knew who I was when introduced. She knew the connection to Larry Kramer as she was supposed to produce "The Normal Heart" for Hollywood, but did not as it went to HBO. I was seated directly across from her at a narrow table and right next to Esther Coopersmith, the hostess. Amazing crowd with many politicians - Nita Lowy and Rosa DeLauro (who kept shouting me out in their remarks); Ed Markey who gave a short speech and said "Wow, what a party - I am sitting here with Tony Fauci!"; Sen John McCain, Chris Dodd, Lloyd Hand, James Brolin (Barbra's husband and father of Josh Brolin), Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Gary Gibbons (the only other NIH person), Catherine and Wayne Reynolds, Diane Rehm, henry Waxman, Irene Pollin, Anita Mcbride, Rima Al-Sabah, Sen. Franken, Debbie Dingel, and many other notables. Barbra was amazingly nice - warm, sincere, funny, friendly. I was surprised since Harold Varmus had told me that on a prior visit by Barbra to NIH when he was Director and I was not present, Harold said that Barbra was aloof and not friendly. Totally opposite tonight. You get the feeling you could really be her friend.
-
April 30, 2015 - testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with Francis Collins, Gary Gibbons, Tom Insel, Jon Lorsch, and Doug Lowy. Committee now chaired by Roy Blount (R-MO). Hearing went well. Concomitantly with Hearing has been the drafting and revising of the 21 Century Cures Act developed by Fred Upton (RMN) and Diane DeGette (D-CO). Clearly, Francis Collins (who denies it) had a lot to do with this since it authorizes (and appropriates - weird for an authorization committee) $2 billion per year for 5 years to NIH Director to ONLY be spent on Precision Medicine, young investigators, and "other research" TBD. This is a bad idea to earmark that much money in the NIH budget. (ws s Corner. Big 2 weeks giving
-
May 2, 2015 - Went to Children's Inn Gala at the Ritz-Carlton at Tyson's Corner. Big shout out for me by the MC for my Ebola and other work.