Who is Dr. Fauci?

Connor Fieldale 

Who is Dr. Fauci? During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci has become a household name, though his impact on the medical community started way before that. 

Dr. Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of pharmacists Eugenia and Stephen Fauci.  Throughout Dr. Fauci's childhood, he worked along with his parents at the family pharmacy.  As ordinary people did not necessarily have access to physicians,  pharmacists provided medical treatment in place of doctors. Throughout his childhood, Dr. Fauci learned basic medical practices that would put him on the track to go into medicine. After Dr. Fauci graduated from Regis High School (where he was captain of the Basketball team) in 1958, he went on to get his undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College.  Dr Fauci enlisted in the army following the start of the Vietnam war and went on to work at the National Institute of Health (NIH), which he now directs. He was called to be part of the “Yellow Berets.” At the NIH, Dr. Fauci went on to become a world-renowned doctor, making major breakthroughs in vaccine research. Dr. Fauci also met his wife, Dr. Christine Grady at the NIH, with which he has three children. In 1984, Dr. Fauci was appointed director of the NIH after the resignation of Dr. James Wyngaarden. Dr. Fauci worked with President Ronald Reagan to fight the AIDS epidemic, acquiring the nickname “the Godfather of Aids.” Dr. Fauci became dedicated to calming the angst among the American people, even talking directly to protesters who wanted more information regarding clinical trials in AIDS research. Dr. Fauci would go on to work for 6 more presidents.  

In 2008, President George Bush awarded Dr. Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work during the AIDS epidemic.  Dr. Fauci noted this moment as a “highlight in his career.”  During the 2014 Ebola crisis, Dr. Fauci worked with President Obama to put the country at ease. He also successfully treated an Ebola patient on U.S. grounds. Throughout the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci has become a major source of information for the press and the American people. He was even portrayed by Brad Pitt in a Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch.  Though Dr. Fauci is widely trusted, he has received death threats from skeptics and is under protection of the secret service. In a 60 minutes interview, Dr. Fauci remarked “How pathetic is it that a doctor has secret service agents?” Fauci continued to say that he feels silenced by President Trump, who called Dr. Fauci an “idiot.”

Some of President Trump’s supporters do not trust Dr. Fauci, which may be related to Trump’s criticism of the physician. As the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly politicized, Dr. Fauci hopes to end stigmas surrounding science in infectious medicine and get us out of this pandemic.