Diary Prequel Package — page 450

April 25, 2015 - Went with Chris to the Annual Garden Party at the Beall-Washington House at 2920 - R Street, N.W. that precedes the White House Correspondents' Dinner tonight. Usual DC scene of TV stars and Hollywood stars such as Michael Kelly from "House of Cards" among others. Many people commented about my performance on TV during the Ebola crisis this past Fall. The Brunch was sponsored by Steve and Jean Case, Tammy Haddad, Mark Ein, etc.. That evening went to WH Correspondents's Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue and Florida Avenue. Was guest of Tom Burton and the Wll Street Journal. President Obama gave good comedy show followed by Saturday Night Live's Cecily Johnson. She was not particularly funny, but OK. April 26, 2015 - Went to the Annual NAS Garden Party at NAS Headquarters on C Street and 22-23rd Street, N.W. Usual scene of seeing old friends. As always, great to see Max and Rosalie Cooper. April 28, 2015 - Wonderful evening at the home of Ambassador Esther Coopersmith (2230 S Street, N.W.) who gave "A List" party in honor of Barbra Streisand who is a strong advocate of the Women's Heart Alliance, an organization calling attention to the unrecognized burden of heart disease among women. Beautiful DC Spring evening (magical) - perfect temperature, crystal clear sky. I had the pleasure of spending much face-to-face time with Barbra. She clearly knew who I was when introduced. She knew the connection to Larry Kramer as she was supposed to produce "The Normal Heart" for Hollywood, but did not as it went to HBO. I was seated directly across from her at a narrow table and right next to Esther Coopersmith, the hostess. Amazing crowd with many politicians - Nita Lowy and Rosa DeLauro (who kept shouting me out in their remarks); Ed Markey who gave a short speech and said "Wow, what a party - I am sitting here with Tony Fauci!"; Sen John McCain, Chris Dodd, Lloyd Hand, James Brolin (Barbra's husband and father of Josh Brolin), Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Gary Gibbons (the only other NIH person), Catherine and Wayne Reynolds, Diane Rehm, henry Waxman, Irene Pollin, Anita Mcbride, Rima Al-Sabah, Sen. Franken, Debbie Dingel, and many other notables. Barbra was amazingly nice - warm, sincere, funny, friendly. I was surprised since Harold Varmus had told me that on a prior visit by Barbra to NIH when he was Director and I was not present, Harold said that Barbra was aloof and not friendly. Totally opposite tonight. You get the feeling you could really be her friend. April 30, 2015 - testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with Francis Collins, Gary Gibbons, Tom Insel, Jon Lorsch, and Doug Lowy. Committee now chaired by Roy Blount (R-MO). Hearing went well. Concomitantly with Hearing has been the drafting and revising of the 21 Century Cures Act developed by Fred Upton (RMN) and Diane DeGette (D-CO). Clearly, Francis Collins (who denies it) had a lot to do with this since it authorizes (and appropriates - weird for an authorization committee) $2 billion per year for 5 years to NIH Director to ONLY be spent on Precision Medicine, young investigators, and "other research" TBD. This is a bad idea to earmark that much money in the NIH budget.