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204 nih. gov> Ce: gatesfoundation.org" HE 2 «212s foundation.org>, od.nih.gov" HE 200. nih. gov> Subject: RE: NIH Director hoping to bring you and your book to NIH Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2020 18:02:31 -0500 Importance: Normal Francis, Thank you for the kind note and invitation. NIH is a valued partner to our foundation and a leader in the field, especially on promoting gender equality. The example you set is not only changing the dynamic at NIH, but the broader research ecosystem. I want to thank you for being such a prominent and vocal male ally, and hope you know how touched I am that the planning committee selected The Moment of Lift for this opportunity. My schedule is quite full this spring but I've passed on your invitation to my team to see whether it can work. They should be in touch soon. In the meantime, I'm incredibly excited to see what our new collaboration will accomplish for sickle cell disease and HIV. All the best, - Melinda From: Collins, Francis (NIH/OD) [E] [© od.nih.gov<mailto [IO od.nih.gov>> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2020 1:55 AM To: Melinda French mfgates.com<mailto IM mfgate: com>> Cc: Jennifer Weisman gatesfoundation.org<mailto| gatesfoundation.org>>; Roberts, Jacqueline (NIH/OD) [E] od.nih.gov<mailto| od.nih.gov>> Subject: NIH Director hoping to bring you and your book to NIH Dear Melinda, It has been a truly gratifying experience working closely with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the decade that I have served as NIH Director. My senior staff and yours have become wonderfully effective colleagues, team members, and friends across a wide range of projects and themes, from HIV/TB/malaria to maternal and child health. But I write now with a different kind of outreach that I hope will appeal to YOU. I write to invite you to NIH as the featured author for the NIH "Big Read" in 2020. This innovative program was developed to foster engaging discussions throughout the NIH community on a single book over several months, culminating with a special event featuring the author of the book. After significant consideration, the Planning Committee has selected your book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, as our top choice for this year's NIH Big Read. Your engaging writing style and the book's compelling message would undoubtedly connect with a wide audience at NIH, especially since we have made the empowerment of women a major theme over the last year. Through the personal stories in your book, we hope to generate stimulating discussions that inspire conversation and personal discovery. In addition, I think our staff would benefit immensely from your articulation of the values and strategy that serve as the bedrock for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Should you accept this invitation, the NIH Big Read would kick off here in the next couple of weeks with an announcement to engage the NIH community and encourage participation in small-group discussions. The activities would lead to a major event during which you and I would talk about your book, on stage, in an interview-style setting, in our largest auditorium (capacity about 500, with the likelihood of overflow space). A reception where you would have the opportunity to meet and interact with NIH scientists and staff will follow the main event. The scheduling of that event is very flexible and can be guided by your availability - but ideally we are thinking of a date sometime in May. Prior best-selling authors featured for the NIH Big Read include Siddartha Mukherjee (The Gene) and Ed Yong (I Contain Multitudes). But this would be a perfect year to feature The Moment of Lift, and I sincerely hope you will accept this invitation to be the featured author. Please let me know of your willingness and availability, and I will ask the planning group to follow up with you to arrange the details. With warm personal regards, Francis ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message, including any attachments, may include confidential or inside information. Any distribution or use of the communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from your system.