Profiles in Courage Defending Public Health: Anthony Fauci, MD

By: Brandon M. Macsata, CEO, ADAP Advocacy Association

"When you're involved in a race to stop a horrible disease, you always feel you're not doing things quickly enough." – Anthony Fauci, MD

Physician. Scientist. Researcher. Immunologist. Advisor. Husband. Father. And to millions of others... Luminary. Yet, standing at only five feet seven inches, Anthony Fauci, MD – who serves as this nation's Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. – is larger than life with many of today's advocates working in public health. Dr. Fauci didn't enter his professional career seeking the headlines or interviews or fame, but two ongoing global pandemics sealed his fate. 

The intersection between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the Covid-19 pandemic has become the new normal. Although one has sidetracked the progress that was being made on the other, there are undeniable nuances linking the two of them. The origin of the virus... slow initial governmental response... media-driven hyperbole... fearmongering Southern Republican Senators... hope-inspiring clinical trials... advent of the new medications/vaccines, and oh yeah... Anthony Fauci.

Maybe equally as important, Fauci survived four years of the Trump presidency. That in and of itself is significant considering the guy who lost the 2020 presidential election spent most of his tenure in office attacking science, undermining proven public health programs, and belittling (or firing) career public servants. Yet, it is hard to imagine the public health landscape during either crisis without Fauci's steady hand.

Photo Source: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images

The HIV community's Old Guard has come to respect Fauci, in fact, despite a bumpy start back in the 1980s. The HIV community's New Generation credits Fauci for saving their lives, ironically, before many of them were even born. There are striking similarities between the two global pandemics. Forty years ago, one president said nothing, literally, as the Old Guard was forced to bury their friends, family, and neighbors. Body bags darkened the evening broadcast news. Back then, loud mouths and misinformation strangled the science. Last year, another president said absolutely crazy things (i.e., bleach, anyone?) as everyone witnessed the world turning upside-down. Again, not one evening news broadcast ended without images of the body bags. And yet again, loud mouths and misinformation strangled the science. Sadly both times, millions died...needlessly. Fortunately, then and now, people like Anthony Fauci were working in public service and dedicating their lives to public health.

National Geographic's latest project, "FAUCI: FROM THE FRONTLINES OF ONE PANDEMIC TO THE HEADLINES OF ANOTHER," dissects the calling to public service that has defined Fauci's career. The film turns the clock back to AIDS' darkest days, which Fauci reveals that he has post-traumatic stress syndrome from it. The unprecedented portrait of one of America’s most vital public servants also reveals Fauci's clairvoyance:

"I wrote an article in 1981 saying that if we think this disease is going to stay confined to a discreet group of people and it's not going to explode, we're kidding ourselves," Fauci said. "A major journal rejected it and said I was being too alarmist."[1]

Photo Source: Disney+

The documentary also provides a glimpse into how Fauci's commitment to science didn't ignore the concerns being expressed by the patient advocacy community. It features ACT UP's Peter Staley, who evolved from fierce foe to personal friend of the 50+ year public health official. Such relationships between activists and government yielded positive changes, including the future design of our clinical trials.

In fact, Mark S. King brilliantly captured the blissful dynamics of the Staley-Fauci friendship last year in his My Fabulous Disease blog, Peter Staley Just Unmasked Anthony Fauci and It Is Fabulous. "Staley, an icon of AIDS activism, must have done some awfully persuasive cajoling to convince his one-time nemesis to chat with him in such an unguarded way," King wrote at the time.[2]

What is probably the most striking take-away from the new National Geographic film, or even the aforementioned Staley interview, is the unlikeliness that strange bedfellows will emerge between Fauci and his present day critics over Covid-19. The sad truth is the right-wing media, namely FOX News and ONE America News, have vilified the man who has dedicated his life to saving the lives of others... including my own. The result is too many politicians have opted to put ambition-driven politics over their country.

Starting in the 1980s, AIDS defined a generation. Starting in 2020, Covid-19 nearly brought the world to its knees. Despite the challenges from both public health crises, Dr. Anthony Fauci has worked tirelessly to ensure neither one robbed us of even more of our family, friends, and neighbors. Fauci didn't do it for the famed Bobblehead or the catchy Hashtag (#fauciouchie). He did it for us!

[1] Fiore, Kristina (2021, October 5). New Fauci Documentary: 'You Don't Get Intimidated' — Anthony Fauci gets personal in new film, opens up about Trump admin and history repeating. MedPage Today. Retrieved online at https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/94864?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2021-10-06&eun=g1295317d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%20Top%20Cat%20HeC%20%202021-10-06&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition
[2] King, Mark S. (2020, September 26). Peter Staley Just Unmasked Anthony Fauci and It Is Fabulous. My Fabulous Disease. Retrieved online at https://marksking.com/my-fabulous-disease/peter-staley-just-unmasked-anthony-fauci-and-it-is-fabulous/

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.