Last December, Anthony Fauci stepped down as director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) after more than 38 years in the post and 54 years at its parent organization, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has led the institute under seven US presidents and overseen its research and response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Ebola outbreak that began in West Africa in 2014 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The 81-year-old physician-scientist became a household name during the pandemic, during which he was revered as a trusted source of some and disparaged by others, including former US president Donald Trump, who saw his advice as inconsistent and overbearing. On 11 December, he was attacked on Twitter by Elon Musk, who took over the social media platform in October 2022.

Fauci spoke to Nature about Musk’s comments, the pandemic and his own legacy. The interview included an interesting overview of his long and successful career in public service and concluded with the following words. “I would encourage scientists not to be deterred, because the satisfaction and the degree of contribution you can make to society by getting into public service and public health is immeasurable. It’s really extraordinary. It overcomes and counters all of the other bad stuff. It’s unfortunate that we are going through the attacks on public-health officials. But the satisfaction and the accomplishments you can achieve in the field are great. And it certainly supersedes all that other stuff.”1

Read the full interview here.

References

  1. Fauci responds to Musk’s Twitter attack and rates world’s COVID response. (2022, December 13). Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04432-7?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=b0206d83a8-briefing-dy-20221214&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-b0206d83a8-47677880

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