Diary Prequel Package — page 159

should some very minor "singer's nodules" similar to what Pres. Clinton had but much less severe (Dr. Siegel took care of Clinton), as well as some inflammation indicating esophageal-laryngeal reflux. Will start on antacids. Word is now out that I will receive the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service on Sept. 28, 2007 in NYC (see below). August 30 - Sept. 13, 2007 - Went to NYC on Sept. 8 to visit my father for his 97th birthday. Recently had baloon valvuloplasty of aortic valve for progressively refractory CHF. Remarkable improvement following procedure. NYC was beautiful and warm. Chris, Jenny and Ali were with me and we had fun as always in NYC. Megan is in Chicago with City Year (Americorps) and is lonely and sad since this is first time away from home. Sept. 14, 2007 - Big day. Went to White House for Karl Rove's farewell party. Moving speeches by Josh Bolten (who showed PowerPoint slides on Karl's years with the POTUS here and in Texas), the POTUS who choked up a few times when talking about Karl, and Karl himself who gave a very moving thank you to his friends at the WH. He recounted how after Bush won the election Karl did not want to come to DC with the POTUS because he felt that although he was a good political strategist and tactician, he did not like internecine warfare and he saw that during the administration of the POTUS's father George H.W. Bush shook his head in agreement with this. Karl went on to say that it would not be this way during his administration since it will be like a family and he would not allow backbiting. My thought was that although this is an admirable thing, it might have had the unintended consequence of having a closed system that did not accept outside ideas very well. In any event it was a warm affair. I had the opportunity to chat with Josh Bolten, Karl Rove, Fran Townsend, Mike Chertoff, Charles Krauthammer, and many other notables. After the ceremony we waved the POTUS off from the balcony in Marine One on the way to Camp David for the weekend. I had a scheduled briefing of First Lady Laura Bush's staff with Anita McBride (Chief-of-Staff), Carrie Underwood (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects), and several others. The briefing went very well. I talked about global health issues and what the FLOTUS could do for the last year domestically and internationally to promote the health agenda. I will be suggesting places that she could visit. To do an event similar to what we did together at Howard University (see above - June 18, 2007). Sept. 15-16, 2007 - Press announcement for the Lasker Award. Almost immediately, scores of congratulatory e-mails started arising. My picture was in the Washington Post with an article; article in NY Times and picture and article on Monday (Sept.17) in USA Today. Sept. 19, 2007 - Over the past few days, literally hundreds of e-mails and letters coming in regarding Lasker Award from friends, colleagues, people I knew years ago such as nurses from H-4 ward at NY Hospital, White house people, congressmen, etc. Today had meeting at White House (EEOB-428) run by NSC (Mike Falan) and HSC (Rajeev Venkayya) to discuss updating and broadening the vision of the NSC/HSC TB