Anthony Fauci

Anthony S. Fauci is an immunologist who has made substantial contributions to research in the areas of AIDS and other immunodeficiencies, both as a scientist and as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

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Education and career

Anthony Stephen Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, to Stephen A. Fauci, a pharmacist, and Eugenia A. Fauci, a homemaker.^[1] He graduated from the all-scholarship, Jesuit-run Regis High School in New York City. He went on to attended the College of the Holy Cross and later received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1966. He then completed an internship and residency at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.^[2]

In 1968, Fauci came to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI) in NIAID. In 1974, he became Head of the Clinical Physiology Section, LCI, and in 1980 was appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, a position he still holds. In 1984, Fauci became Director of NIAID, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, illness from potential agents of bioterrorism, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

Medical Achievements

Fauci has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated diseases. He has been a leader in the field of human immunoregulation by making a number of basic scientific observations that serve as the basis for current understanding of the regulation of the human immune response. In addition, Fauci has been recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents adapt to the human immune response. He has developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. In a 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey of the American Rheumatism Association membership ranked the work of Fauci on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and Wegener's granulomatosis as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.^[3]

Fauci has made influential contributions to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses leading to the progression to AIDS. He also has outlined the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Fauci has played an important role in developing strategies for the therapy and immune reconstitution of patients with this disease, as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. His research is concentrated on identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV.

In 2003, an Institute for Scientific Information study indicated that in the twenty year period from 1983 to 2002, Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist among the 2.5 to 3 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world who published articles in scientific journals during that time frame.^[4] Fauci was the ninth most-cited scientist in the field of immunology in the period from January 1993 to June 30, 2003.^[2] Fauci has been a visiting professor at many medical centers throughout the country and has given many lectures across the globe. He has received 30 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.^[5]

Memberships

Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine (Council Member), the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, as well as other numerous professional societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Association of Immunologists. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; and as author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks.^[5]

2007 Lasker Award

On September 15, 2007, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the 2007 Lasker Award winners which included 2 surgeons:

Drs. Alain Carpentier, 74, Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris; Albert Starr, 81, of the Providence Health System in Portland, Oregon;

Dr. Ralph Steinman, 64, of Rockefeller University in Manhattan; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, 66, an internationally known immunologist.

Dr. Steinman and Dr. Fauci will each receive $150,000 and Dr. Starr and Dr. Carpentier will each receive $75,000.^[6]

References