His face was revealed to the general public during the health crisis. The eminent immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci, main adviser to US President Joe Biden on Covid-19 and who has become a figure in the fight against the pandemic in the United States, announced on Monday at 81 that he would leave office in December.
He also indicated that he would retire on that date from his position as director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which he had held for 38 years, while specifying that it was not yet a question of him to “retire”. “I plan to pursue the next phase of my career with all the energy and passion I have left for my field,” he said in a statement.
President Joe Biden immediately sent “his deep thanks” to Dr. Fauci for his work. “The United States is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him,” he said in a statement.
He served under seven different presidents
The son of a pharmacist, Anthony Fauci has served under seven different US presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan. “It has been the honor of my life to lead NIAID,” he wrote, listing the crises he has gone through: AIDS epidemic, Ebola, Zika… Under Republican President George W. Bush, he was the architect of the Pepfar program, which has saved the lives of millions of people with HIV. He was decorated in 2008 for his efforts against AIDS.
“Thanks to the power of science and investments in research and innovation, the world has been able to fight deadly diseases,” wrote Anthony Fauci. “I am proud to have been a part of this important work and look forward to helping continue to do so in the future. »
In 2020, this doctor by training, already famous in the world of infectious diseases and the fight against AIDS but then still little known to the general public, was thrown into the limelight by joining the presidential cell on the coronavirus. , when Donald Trump was in power. His simple, tirelessly repeated messages made him the reassuring figure that America needed.
But he, who had always been careful to stay away from politics, gradually became the pet peeve of conservatives, and the favorite target of anti-vaccines, in a context of very strong politicization of the health crisis in the United States. United. During a Senate hearing, Fauci accused a Republican elected official of encouraging people making death threats against him.