Diary Prequel Package — page 416

ve strain of H3N2, which is predominant over H1N1 and B, the latter of which match the vaccines. The match for H3N2 is only 48%. I was on WTOP explaining this. Could be a bad influenza winter. December 5, 2014 - I participated with Ron Klain at a Georgetown University event chaired by Pres. Jack DiGoia in Gaston Hall at the Healey Building. We discussed various aspects of the Ebola outbreak. I have grown to become truly fond and respectful of Ron Klain since he assumed the position as the Ebola Response Coordinator for the USG. He will be leaving the USG employment and will return to his position as CEO of Case Holdings and General Counsel for Revolution, L.C. Also did some press with the London Times print and Bloomberg TV today. Had a call with Jack Whitescarver. I am concerned with him since he does not appear well. His hematocrit is low and he is short of breath. I believe he is having a slow gastrointestinal bleed and is likely experiencing mild to moderate congestive heart failure. December 6, 2014 - I participated at the PRIM&R conference in Baltimore where I gave the keynote address on ethical considerations in HIV/AIDS. This was on a Saturday morning. Christine is a major player in this organization and spent the weekend there. I drove to Baltimore on Friday night and had dinner with Chris at the Baltimore Hilton Hotel Bar (lots of fun) and stayed with her in her hotel room that night. The following morning (Sat. Dec. 6) gave my talk to an audience of around 2500 people and got a standing ovation. Drove back to DC and had dinner with Alec Whyte at Matisse restaurant. Caught up on stuff. Always great to see Alec December 8, 2014 - I am getting particularly concerned with what I feel is noncollegial behavior on the part of the UK, particularly Dame Sally Davies (Chief Health Officer of UK) as well as the Oxford group personified by Adrian Hill and Jeremy Ferrar who are bad mouthing our randomized controlled trial idea behind our backs. However, this is the stuff that we deal with all the time. I am also getting concerned that the incidence of infection of Ebola in Liberia is so low that this may have an issue with our conduct of the randomized controlled trial in Liberia. Cliff will leave Dec. 10 for Liberia for the third time in 5 weeks. We have to consider the possibility of doing a trial also in Sierra Leone. Had contentious IC Director meeting concerning the issue of presenting reports (that I believe are flawed) to the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) on the Intramural research Program (IRP) and the AIDS Portfolio. Issue is that some outside group (ACD) want to homogenize the IRP to make it "trans-NIH" as opposed to being directed to the mandate of the IC in question. I am totally against this since this flies in the face of the NIAID mandate of being a "strike force" for emerging IDs such as AIDS, SARS, and