Dr. Anthony Fauci announced during an interview Monday that his five decades as arguably America’s best-known public health official will come to an end by or before the conclusion of President Joe Biden’s first term in office, Jan.
20, 2025. Biden’s chief medical advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci’s government service began with the emergence of HIS/AIDS just before he took the helm of NIAID in 1984, where he has served now under a total of seven different presidential administrations.
Though he encountered some criticism from activist groups like ACT UP over what they perceived as his (and the government’s) anemic response to the AIDS crisis as gay men were dying in droves, the physician and scientist would later earn their admiration and respect for his career-long dedication to finding cures.
Today, Fauci is best known for being the public face of the American government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a position where he was often caught in the political headwinds, clashing with the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans who often sought to undermine him.