Post-Memoir, Dr. Fauci Is Glad to Be at His Second Home: Georgetown
By • August 14, 2024 0 1268
Talking one-on-one with Dr. Anthony Fauci is more like chatting with your highly intelligent, well-traveled grandfather. While the physician, scientist, immunologist and public servant directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, his warm, conversational tone was evident throughout our chat. It perfectly matched where he is now in his career. There are no airs about Dr. Fauci.
As of July 1, Fauci, 83, began serving as a Distinguished University Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases of the Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine. He has an additional appointment in the McCourt School of Public Policy.
Rather than teach courses, Fauci has given lectures, seminars and fireside chats for undergrads and for students and others from the School of Medicine, School of Health, School of Public Policy, Law Center and Walsh School of Foreign Service. He has also made himself available for one-on-one meetings.
“It’s been a lot of fun and an investment of time,” Fauci said. “It’s different than just teaching a single class. It’s essentially spreading yourself out among multiple components of Georgetown University.”
His memoir, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” was published in June. While he wrote a lot of the 480-page tome over a period of years, after stepping down from the National Institutes of Health in December of 2022, he spent most of last year completing and editing the book.
Fauci collaborated with an unnamed individual with a background in journalism and writing, learning, he said, “that you can’t really include everything you think is important in a memoir, because then it becomes too long and might be boring to some people.” He added: “I made [the memoir] an easy read, because I very carefully edited it.”
The book is arranged in five parts, the first being “From Bensonhurst to Washington,” and the last, of course, being “COVID.” The rest touch on Fauci’s contributions to helping those with HIV and AIDS live long, active lives; the wars on terror and disease; and expecting the unexpected.
Fauci said his initial tendency was to describe every meeting he had with presidents. He has worked with seven, beginning with Ronald Reagan. Instead, he chose one or two representative meetings with each to give a feel for his relationship with them.
“I occasionally get a phone call from President Obama. I’m in touch with George W. Bush. Prior to his death, I was in pretty good contact on a regular basis, at least once or twice a year, with George H.W. Bush,” Fauci said. “I see both Hillary and Bill Clinton at different functions I go to, so I get a chance to chat with them.”
Fauci’s longstanding relationship with Joe Biden began during Biden’s eight years as vice president. He was chief medical advisor to President Biden in 2021 and 2022.
“I’ve been very privileged to have had those kinds of relationships with different presidents,” he said.
One chapter in Fauci’s book is entitled “Illegitimi Non Carborundum,” a mock Latin aphorism that means “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.” During our interview, referring to the turbulent initial phase of the pandemic, he cited his wife of 39 years, Christine, as “the major anchor that got [him] through those times.”
“Some people look at it and shake their heads and say, ‘My God, how could you possibly endure conspiratorial attacks on you by people as high-ranking as senators and congressmen?’”
Violent threats against Fauci and his family have necessitated armed protection for them for the past four years. “It’s really crazy when you think about that, what a public health official has had to go through. It’s unprecedented, at least in recent memory,” he remarked.
With decades of connections to the area, Fauci is an avid lover of Georgetown, both the university and the neighborhood. While he lives in Wesley Heights, he can jog to campus in 10 minutes or less. He and Christine are avid joggers, who over the years have trained for marathons and 10Ks along the C&O Canal.
“I like the fact that you can be in a sophisticated city, and yet minutes away from beautiful nature,” he said.
Fauci eats at Chef Geoff’s often and — calls Café Milano owner Franco Nuschese a good friend.
While he had offers to go to many other universities when he stepped down from NIH, he ultimately decided on Georgetown University because it “felt like a second home.”
“I’m very close friends with [Georgetown University President] Jack DeGioia, who had been trying to get me to come to Georgetown for years,” said Fauci. “My wife was an undergrad and got her Ph.D. at Georgetown, we were married at Dahlgren Chapel, our three children were born at Georgetown University Hospital — it was an easy choice for me.”
For those on the fence about pursuing medicine, Fauci had this advice: “If someone feels that they might have a liking going into medicine and science and public health, it’s an incredibly gratifying field, because accomplishments that you make, although they can be personally gratifying, they also help other people. The reason I became so attracted to the field of medicine and science is because I always wanted to do things that somehow helped other people. One of the ways you can help people is through medicine and science, but it’s not the only way. I can attest to the fact that, having been doing it now for well over half a century, that it can be a phenomenal source of fulfillment and gratification.”
