How Dr Anthony Fauci Is Helping To Save The World One Infectious Disease At A Time
Dr Anthony Fauci has been a leader for most of his life. First as the captain of his high school’s basketball team then as the first in his 1966 Cornell University Medical College class.
He went on to complete his internship and residency in internal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, now known as New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine. After which he joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 1968.
By 1984, he had become the director of the NIAID, a position he maintains till date.
Over the course of his time as the director of the NIAID, he has worked with six different presidential administrations on issues about infectious diseases and immune-related illnesses. He was also at the forefront of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and helped to develop treatments that enable people with HIV to live long and active lives.
He oversees research on treatment that can help to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.
Dr Fauci has been at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus, working as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force established in late January 2020, under President Trump. He gained public trust after countering US President Donald Trump on the claim that the FDA had approved chloroquine as the cure for COVID-19.
He has continued to sensitize the U.S public about the need to follow set guidelines to help contain the spread of the virus and is working with a team of scientists to come up with a vaccine before 2021.
He told Healthline in June that, ‘Hopefully by the end of this year we will develop a vaccine we can deploy. We can never guarantee that. You can never, ever guarantee the success of a vaccine. We just have good experience to know that we are aspirationally, cautiously optimistic that we will have one by the end of the year.’
Dr Fauci continues to work hard and provide recommendations to the Trump administration to make sure that Americans are safe from this virus. He has proven time and time again to be worthy of his National Medal of Science and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Writer: Mofijesusewa Samuel
Designer: Kume Akpubi
