【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, August 22, 2022】Dr. Anthony S. Fauci became a household name in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. His face was commemorated on sweatshirts, knee socks and mugs; a petition to name him People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” garnered more than 28,000 signatures. Yet, today, he said that he intended to leave government service in December to “pursue the next chapter” of his career, and that he would step down as President Biden’s top medical adviser and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he has led for 38 years.

In an interview Sunday evening, he said he was “not retiring in the classic sense” but would devote himself to traveling, writing and encouraging young people to enter government service.

Few scientists have had as large or as long-lasting an impact on public policy. Dr. Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson was president; he was appointed the director of its infectious disease branch in 1984, when the AIDS epidemic demanded attention.

Dr. Fauci has advised every president since Ronald Reagan — seven in all — and has been adept at navigating the nexus of science and politics. Among his proudest accomplishments, he said, was his work with President George W. Bush in developing a global program to combat H.I.V./AIDS, known as PEPFAR, which has saved an estimated 21 million lives. Mr. Bush — whose father, George Bush, called Dr. Fauci “a hero” during a 1988 presidential debate — awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.

But Dr. Fauci, who catapulted into the spotlight when the coronavirus began spreading in 2020, could not escape the politicization of the Trump era. President Donald J. Trump toyed openly with the idea of firing him (though that would have been difficult because Dr. Fauci is not a political appointee). Conservatives viewed Dr. Fauci as a symbol of lockdowns and masks, which they fiercely resisted.

Dr. Fauci clashed bitterly with Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who publicly accused him of lying about research his institute was funding in China, where the coronavirus emerged. (“If anybody is lying here, it is you, Senator,” Dr. Fauci shot back.)

In addition to running the allergy and infectious diseases institute, Dr. Fauci also leads an immunology laboratory; he said he would leave that position as well. He said he had told Mr. Biden of his decision, and the president had been “very gracious about it.”

Dr. Fauci did not set a specific departure date (he will turn 82 on Dec. 24). He said he hoped that by staying through the fall and into early winter, the United States would “get closer to living with” the coronavirus “in a steady state,” though there are no guarantees.

(Source: New York Times)

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