After completing his medical residency in 1968, Fauci joined the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases's (NIAID) Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI). and in driving development of
biodefense drugs and vaccines following the
9/11 terrorist attacks. Fauci has been a
visiting professor at many medical centers and has received numerous
honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Medical achievements visits the NIH in 1995 and hears about the latest advances in HIV/AIDS research from Fauci. Fauci has made important scientific observations that contributed to the understanding of the regulation of the human immune response and is recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby
immunosuppressive agents adapt to that response. He developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as
polyarteritis nodosa,
granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and
lymphomatoid granulomatosis. In a 1985
Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey, members of the American Rheumatism Association ranked Fauci's work on the treatment of
polyarteritis nodosa and
granulomatosis with polyangiitis as one of the most important advances in patient management in
rheumatology over the previous 20 years. Fauci discovered how to re-dose
cancer drugs in a way that turned a 98 percent mortality rate of the disorder
vasculitis into a 93 percent remission rate. He was one of the leading researchers during the
AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. In 1981, he and his team of researchers began looking for a vaccine or treatment for this novel virus, though they would meet a number of obstacles. In October 1988, protesters came to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, who had become the institute's director in 1984, bore the brunt of the anger from the
LGBTQ+ community who were largely ignored by the government. Leading AIDS activist
Larry Kramer attacked Fauci relentlessly in the media. He called him an "incompetent idiot" and a "pill-pushing" tool of the medical establishment. Fauci did not have control over drug approval though many people felt he was not doing enough. Fauci did make an effort in the late 1980s to reach out to the
LGBTQ+ community in New York and San Francisco to find ways he and the NIAID could find a solution. Political commentator
Helen Andrews defended Fauci's actions during the epidemic in a 2021 article, writing: Fauci was the main architect of
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an HIV/AIDS program responsible for saving over 20 million lives in the developing world.
2009 swine flu pandemic In a meeting with reporters on September 17, 2009, Fauci predicted that the
H1N1 virus causing the
2009 swine flu pandemic could infect as many as one in three Americans, more than the amount of Americans usually infected by the
seasonal flu.
Ebola congressional hearing greets Fauci in June 2014. On October 16, 2014, in a United States congressional hearing regarding the
Ebola virus crisis, Fauci, who, as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had been discussing the importance of screening for weeks, testified that NIAID was still some distance away from producing sufficient quantities of cures or vaccines for widespread trials. Specifically, Fauci said, "While NIAID is an active participant in the global effort to address the public health emergency occurring in west Africa, it is important to recognize that we are still in the early stages of understanding how infection with the Ebola virus can be treated and prevented." He became a de facto public health spokesperson for the office of the president during the pandemic, and a strong advocate for ongoing social distancing efforts in the United States. In interviews on January 21, January 26, and February 17, Fauci commented on COVID-19. He said that at the time of the interviews ("right now"), COVID-19 was not a "major threat" to the American public, with the risk to the American public being "low", but that it was "an evolving situation", and that "public health officials need to take [COVID-19] very seriously". In the latter interview, Fauci said that COVID-19 could become a "global pandemic which would then have significant implications for" the United States. In a March 8, 2020, interview, Fauci stated that "right now in the United States, people [who are not infected] should not be walking around with masks", but "if you want to do it, that's fine". In the same interview, Fauci said that buying masks "could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need" them: "When you think masks, you should think of healthcare providers needing them". When Fauci made this comment, America's top surgical mask maker was struggling to produce enough masks to meet the increased demand. Fauci's comments were met with a hostile response from former Republican congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine. Trump retweeted Lorraine's response, which included the call to "#FireFauci". "Fire Fauci" has also been chanted by anti-lockdown protesters in various locations, including Florida and Texas. As a result, the White House denied that Trump was firing Fauci, and blamed the media for overreacting. Fauci was criticized by right-wing pundits and received death threats that necessitated a security detail. In an interview with
60 Minutes in 2020, he mentioned that other members of his family, including his wife and daughters, had been repeatedly harassed since the pandemic began. , in December 2020, at a
NIH vaccination event. In June 2020, Fauci said that he was "very concerned" that the
ongoing protests against police brutality would cause "surges" in COVID-19 cases, stating that the "large crowds" are a "perfect set-up" for the virus to spread. In July 2020, Fauci advised the public to "avoid crowds of any type". On July 6, 2020, Fauci spoke on a
Facebook livestream, offering his opinion that the country's situation pertaining to COVID-19 "is really not good", pointing to more than 55,000 new cases on July 4, 2020. He said the United States was "still knee-deep in the first wave" of cases, and was experiencing a "resurgence of infections". On July 7, 2020, during a press conference, Fauci stated that it was a "false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death" for COVID-19 in the country: "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency." Both Trump and the White House had cited the falling death rate as proof of success of the Trump administration's response. After this appearance by Fauci, the White House cancelled three media appearances that had been scheduled for him later that week. On July 7, 2020, Trump contradicted Fauci's comments describing a dire situation in the country, with Trump saying: "I think we are in a good place. I disagree with [Fauci]." While there were disagreements, Trump also at times praised Fauci. On July 9, 2020, Trump publicly opined that Fauci "is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes." By July 12, 2020, a White House official told media outlets that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things", passing to the media a list of purported mistakes made by Fauci during the outbreak. As late as September 23, 2020, when U.S. coronavirus fatalities exceeded 200,000, conservatives continued to question Fauci's and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations for responding to the pandemic. In a hearing before the Senate's
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Paul had made numerous claims about
herd immunity, Sweden's interventions to combat the pandemic, the contention that the populations of Asian countries have greater resilience against COVID-19, and statements about death rates due to the virus. Fauci would have several intense exchanges with Paul. and he had never made a political endorsement in his career. Also, in October, Fauci criticized the
Great Barrington Declaration's "focused protection" herd immunity strategy, calling it "total nonsense" and saying that it would lead to many avoidable deaths. Fauci said that 30 percent of the population had underlying health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus and that "older adults, even those who are otherwise healthy, are far more likely than young adults to become seriously ill if they get COVID-19." During a campaign rally in
Phoenix, Arizona, on October 19, Trump launched attacks on his political rival
Joe Biden, saying that Biden "wants to listen to Dr. Fauci" regarding the handling of the pandemic, upon which Biden merely replied "Yes" on Twitter. On October 31,
The Washington Post published an extensive interview with Fauci, in which he voiced a candid assessment of the administration's COVID-19 policies and was critical of the influence of presidential advisor
Scott Atlas. Shortly after midnight on November 2, 2020, Trump insinuated he would fire Fauci "after the election" while on stage at a campaign rally at
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in
Opa-locka, Florida. At the rally, he made false claims that the pandemic was "rounding the turn" and was met by audience chants of "Fire Fauci!", to which he responded, "Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until after the election... I appreciate the advice." Despite the rhetoric, Fauci was not fired. On December 2, the
United Kingdom became the first
western country to license a vaccine against the coronavirus (
Pfizer-BioNTech). In response, Fauci said that the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was proceeding "the correct way" and said the UK "really rushed through that approval". The next day Fauci apologized, telling the BBC "I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint. Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK... I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way." On January 3, 2021, President Trump tweeted, "The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of [the CDC's] ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries". That same morning, Fauci responded in an interview on NBC's
Meet the Press, "The numbers are real. We have well over 300,000 deaths. We are averaging two- to three thousand deaths per day. All you need to do... is go into the trenches, go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people, and real deaths." When asked if the
2021 United States Capitol attack was a COVID-19
superspreader event, Fauci stated: "I think for those people there, they probably put themselves at an increased risk because they essentially did not adhere to the fundamentals of public health and COVID-19 context which is universal wearing of masks, keeping physical distance, avoiding crowds in congregate settings. The fact that it was outdoors is a little bit better than if they were indoors completely. But you can still have a super spreader situation when you do things in a crowded way." On January 23, 2021, Fauci was quoted saying that letting the science speak on the pandemic got him "into a little bit of trouble" and got "push-back from people in the White House, including the president", during the Trump administration. Fauci was also reportedly blocked from appearing on
The Rachel Maddow Show for some time because the Trump administration "didn't like the way [Maddow handles] things and they didn't want me on [the show]."
Biden administration in February 2021 On December 3, 2020,
President-elect Joe Biden asked Fauci, in addition to remaining in his role as director of the NIAID, to serve as the
chief medical advisor to the president in the
Biden administration. Fauci accepted the offer. After the
inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021, Fauci said he experienced a "liberating feeling" in being able to speak freely about science without interference from the new administration. He pictured Biden's administration as committed to being "completely transparent, open and honest". Fauci was involved in the development of the Biden administration's plan for a nationwide COVID-19 vaccine rollout. In early May 2021, when asked if the CDC's summer camp guidance was excessive, Fauci responded by saying that "I wouldn't call them excessive, but they certainly are conservative" and added that the guidance "looks a bit strict" and "a bit stringent". Also in early May, Fauci said that he is "not convinced" that COVID-19 originated naturally and that "we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened". In mid-May 2021, Fauci said that Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks outdoors, except for in "completely crowded situations". This guidance was updated in July 2021 to recommend that all people wear masks regardless of vaccination status, in what Fauci said was due to the much more contagious Delta variant. In May 2021, Fauci denied that the National Institutes of Health supported "
gain-of-function research" at the
Wuhan Institute of Virology. In early June 2021, over 3,000 internal government emails sent by Fauci from January to June 2020 were obtained by media outlets through
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These emails contain information about how the United States and Fauci initially responded to COVID-19. On June 22, 2021, Fauci said that the
SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is the "greatest threat" to eliminating COVID-19 in the United States. In December 2021, Fauci, along with
virologist Jeffery K. Taubenberger and
David M. Morens endorsed the development of a
universal coronavirus vaccine, advocating in favor of "an international collaborative effort to extensively sample coronaviruses from
bats as well as wild and
farmed animals to help understand the full "universe" of existing and emerging coronaviruses." In February 2022, Fauci told the
Financial Times that "As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus." In March 2022, Fauci said that the United States should expect an increase in COVID-19 cases from the
BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, but that it might not lead to a severe increase in hospitalizations and deaths. On April 27, 2022, Fauci said that the United States was "out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase" of COVID-19. On May 15, 2022, Fauci said that he would resign if Donald Trump won the
2024 U.S. presidential election. On August 22, 2022, Fauci announced his intention to step down from his position in December "to pursue the next chapter" of his career. He resigned from his position on December 31 of that same year.
Pardon On January 20, 2025, on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration, President Biden sought to protect Fauci from future retribution by Trump by preemptively pardoning Fauci for future potential prosecution for any federal offenses which he may have committed or taken part in between January 1, 2014, and the day of the pardon. Some reacted to this pardon as an "unprecedented use" of the
president's clemency powers.
Later career On June 26, 2023,
Georgetown University announced that Fauci would join its faculty as a
distinguished professor, teaching in both the
School of Medicine and
McCourt School of Public Policy, effective July 1. On February 7, 2025, the
United States Department of Health and Human Services terminated a $168,000 contract for a Fauci museum exhibit at the
National Institutes of Health. ==Cultural impact==