Diary Prequel Package — page 180

in Sept. 16, 2008 - Testified before Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Rayburn House Building Room 2154. Topic = HIV prevention in light of the new numbers from CDC showing that the incidence in USA of HIV is worse than was previously calculated - 56, 300 versus 40,000. Other main witness was Julie Gerberding with Kevin Fenton of CDC and Tom Insel of NIH as backups. Hearing went very well - generally friendly. Maxine Waters gave Julie Gerberding a hard time about not acting with leadership in a "crisis". I stated that needle-exchange works and that abstinence only does not work. This may upset some ideologues in HHS or the WH. Mild Fall day - slightly cloudy. Sept. 23-30, 2008 - Major crisis on Wall Street and in the banking industry with big banks and financial institutions failing - Lehman Brothers (Bankrupt), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack taken over by the government, AIG bailed out by the government; many buyouts and mergers, stock market plunged by 777 points in 1 day - largest drop ever. Congress trying to agree on a $700 Billion bailout package for financial institutions to restore the credit flow in the USA. Big problems!! Oct. 1, 2008 - On Sept. 23, 2008 Elias Zerhouni announced that he would step down as NIH Director at the end of October, right before the election to avoid any confusion about political issues and to call attention to the vacancy for the incoming transition. I was asked to be Acting Director and refused; Steve Katz was considered but was rejected by the WH because of the LA Times story on him and conflict of interest a few years ago. Betsy Nabel either withdrew her name or was not asked because of an issue of a COI of one of her recently hired Senior Advisors. Raynard Kington (current deputy NIH Director) should have been asked directly but was not. Not clear why the DHHS and/or the WH are uncomfortable with him. One version is that he is not well known in the Congress and among constituencies; anther more cynical version is that the WH has a problem with a gay man (he is married and has an adopted child). The WH and/or DHHS tried to then get me to agree to be publicly appointed as a "Senior Advisor" to the Acting Director to quell the concerns of the outside people and indicate that a strong, visible, experienced person such as me was "watching the store" even though Kington would be appointed as the official Acting Director. I told Elias and Jamie Burke (White House Liason Office) that this was impossible and no way would I do this. I told them explicitly that I did not want to do it in the first place; second - it was an insult to Kington and would undermine his authority; third - people would come directly to me and circumvent Kington's authority; fourth - it looks stupid. She actually agreed and so the decision was to appoint Kington cleanly and have me be available "behind the scenes with no announcements" to advise him if he needed advice. Oct. 2, 2008 - Gave Inaugural Ben Kean Lecture on Global Health at New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center. Great déjà vu feeling about my years there. Much adulation among house staff at lecture and morning report. Oct. 3 - 4, 2008 - Went to Parent's Weekend at Columbia for Megan. Jenny (living in Brooklyn) joined Chris and me for a couple of dinners with Meg. Went to ColumbiaReleased by Chairman Rand Paul