A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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May 17, 2015 Or, Fauci, Mould you believe that every afiernoon I was in the hospital at NiH I always looked forward to receiving your visit? It's true. Every time you walked in with that distinct tenor voice and smile (behind the mask, of course), my spints were raised. It was always a joy to speak with you and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. Later on when I gol back to Texas and had a chance to look up your accomplishments (and watched youtube videos of some of your congressional nearings in the past) I was almost embarrassed that I had spoke so casually with you. I thought maybe I should have been more respectful or formal, And how in the world do you look so godd al your age? Please, give me the secret, !'ll need it someday: Allioxing aside, I cannot express how much I am grateful for the clinical care you provided during my stay at NIH, It truly was a privilege to come there and be under the care of what, in my opinion, are the best doctors and nurses in the world. Because of all of you, I am alive and well today. I actually have a copy of a picture taken while ! was stil intubated. Jn it, Dr. Chertow and you are on either side of me, in fhe space suits, providing ICU care. /'ll never forget that image - it really is worth 1,000 words. ! hope my case helped you and other clinicians leaam more about caring for Ebola patients. Obviously I hope an epidemic of this proportion never occurs again. But, if it does, I hope NIH and other facilities will be better prepared to save lives, as a resull of learning from my case and ofher survivor's cases. Truly I did not deserve the level of care you helped to provide - so many other West Alrican patients did not have the same privilege I had. But nevertheless, you were by my side when it mattered mast, both with clinical acumen as well as a lighthearted demeanor that could have faken me oul of any bad mood, There's an ald quote by Hippocraies that goes ike this: "it is more important to know what sort of persan has 2 disease than to know what sort of disease a person has." I can honestly say that you reated me as a person, and not just a disease. Thank you again for everything - I can never repay your kindness. Sincerely, Preston Garman PS. And if you ever speak again with Mr. Obama or Mr. Clinton, you ¢an tell them I said hela, and that! am daing well. This is what makes it worthwhile!!
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May 17, 2015 - Received honorary doctorate of Public Service from George Washington University in a beautiful ceremony on the National Mall right in front of the Washington Monument. Commencement Speaker was Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. At the ceremonial dinner the night before at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on 17th Street, N.W., a student member of the Board of Trustees got a piece of meat stuck in his throat and was choking. I did a Heimlich maneuver and dislodged the piece of steak. Obviously, the crowd was delighted and gave me a big round of applause. The next day (today) at the graduation ceremony, President Knapp mentioned this in his citation for my honorary doctorate. It also got tweeted around.
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May 19-21, 2015 - Honorary doctorates at Columbia University in NYC (Doctor of Science) on May 20 and The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (Doctor of Humane Letters) on May 21. Terrific trip and experiences. Dinner on May 19 at the home of President Lee Bollinger of Columbia right at 116 and Amsterdam Avenue to salute and fest the honorary doctorate recipients. I was asked to give (as were the others) 2-3 minute acceptance remarks. I spoke about the need to not slack off, but to end the AIDS pandemic with the implementation of tools that we already have. I mentioned that history will judge us harshly if we squander the opportunity to end this historic plague. The best part of the evening was meeting and hearing about the other honorees: Milos Forman -- Academy Award Director X2 for "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" and Amadeus". He was not there due to illness. David Levering Lewis --I got to speak with him the most. Famed historian who won iuultiple Pulitzer prizes (among other prizes) for his 1970 biography "W-.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race. 1868-1919 and his 2001 follow-up biography "W.E.B. DuBois: The Fight for Equality and the American century, 1919-1963. Light-skinned AfricanAmerican. Extremely scholarly and charming. I really liked him. He introduced me to hi Agent and Editor -- Robert Weil -- who expressed interest in being my agent/editor for any book that I might write. Albie Sachs -- Historic hero of anti-Apartheid. Lawyer who defended fighters in "The Struggle". Was exiled, and then survived a State-sponsored assassination attempt that blinded him in one eye and blow off his right arm. After Apartheid ended, Nelson Mandela made him Head of the newly established Constitutional Court. Theda Skocpol -- Books on Obama presidency. She was self-absorbed. Andrea Elliott -- received the University Medal for Excellence. A multiple Pulitzer Prize winner. Very young (42) and attractive. Writer for the NY Times. Wrote series of article of "The Invisible Child" about a homeless girl in NYC and also wrote "An Imam in America" about an Imam in Brooklyn and the perceptions of Islam in the USA> On May 20 we had the ceremony in the Columbia Quadrangle with the platform party of the steps of the Low Library. The view and setting were spectacular. Crisp, clear, cool and sunny day! I have many pictures in my files. It was very moving. New York sparkled I thought of Megan, my father and Jenny who were graduates, particularly the unhappiness that Megan experienced. Too bad, it is such a great university. May 20, 21- Hopkins. Had pre-ceremony dinner the night before (May 20) the Commencement at Nichols House, the home of President Ron Daniels. I gave the same remarks as I did at Columbia. At the reception was Senator Barbara Mikulski who said she came just to congratulate me. The other honorees were very impressive also. Xipley Center of Elijah Cummings - Congressman from Baltimore gave very moving comments (in his wonderful preacher fashion) about the recent riots in Baltimore related to the police killing of Freddie Gray. He spoke of his own growing up and still living in the neighborhood where the riots took place. Leon Fleisher - world renowned concert pianist. He was wonderful and they showed a clip of his playing the piano. He gave words of wisdom. "Listen and do not be afraid of silence." Also, "Procrastination saves time" Edwin Catmull, the CEO of Pixar Animation Studio. Produced the first computer animated film "Toy Story" and also "Frozen". Has won 5 Academy Awards.
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May 21, 2015 - Received the Special Recognition Award for Science and Medicine at the Sons of Italy Foundation Gala at the National Building Museum. Phil Piccigallo gave a very nice and warm laudation of me with many old photos of me in different "historic" situations. Also, met at the dinner; Anita McBride (former chief-of-Staff to Laura Bush), General Ray Odierno and his wounded warrior son Anthony (arm blown off by an IED in IraQ).
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2015-05-26 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
May 26, 2015 - Gave an "Interview" talk with Joe Palca (NPR) at the Ripley Center of the Smithsonian. Good crowd, good questions.
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May 27, 2015 - Hosted 30 Staff members from the Senate Appropriations and Oversight committees at the Special Clinical Studies Unit (SCSU) at the Clinical Center where we took care of and I did for them the complete donning and doffing procedure, which they absolutely loved. Many questions. Did a telebriefing for the release of the START study data (DSMB recommended stopping the study due to highly positive results). Clearly starting ARVs at greater than 500 CD4+ T cell count was much more beneficial (p <0.001) than waiting until counts drop to 350. Got much attention. Front page of NY Times with my picture in ONLINE version of Times. Also the next night (May 28), I appeared with Judy Woodruff on the NewsHour.
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May 28, 2015 - Went to UN to participate in Panel at ECOSOC Council (Economic and Social Council), chaired by Paul Farmer to discuss sustainable health systems in light of the Ebola outbreak. Bill Clinton gave the Keynote and we shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. On the panel with me was the actor Jeffrey Wright ("Angels in America" "Boardwalk Empire". He has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Tony. Very nice man. Says that he has been a fan of mine for years. He is working to improve the conditions of miners in Sierra Leone.
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June 1, 2015 - Gave lecture at the Sulgrave Club on Dupont Circle. Upper Crust old women's club. Quite charming and elegant Building between P and Massachusetts Ave, right on DuPont Circle. Spoke on Ebola. Adoring crowd. Met John Quinnan with whom I did my first research project in the summer between my 1st and 2nd year at Cornell - the summer that I met Lynne Williams.
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June 2, 2015 - Spoke with Doug brooks (ONAP) about setting up a meeting with him, me, Valeria Jarrett and Denis McDonough to discuss possibility of starting a PEPFAER for the USA to end the AIDS pandemic here.