Coronavirus: Who is America’s Favourite Doctor Anthony Fauci?
As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged through the world as well as in the US, one calming face kept on showing up on the TV screens, newspaper, and the internet. Wearing a professional face with calming, nerdy eyes and formally combed grey hair, the person talked to the American people, explaining the realities of the coronavirus pandemic and calming them with a message of hope. The person was Dr Anthony Fauci.
His unwithering truth about the severity of coronavirus divided opinions, his determination to fight against misinformation - sometimes against his own government made him sidelined. Not to mention the wrath of some misguided people who wanted his head for advising them to maintain social distancing and wear a mask. But as the head of immunology at the National Institute of Health, Dr Anthony Fauci has seen it all before and didn’t blink for a second to perform his job with utmost diligence.
Early Life and Education
Anthony Fauci was born in 1940 to a family of Italian immigrants, on Christmas Eve. His pharmacists family certainly loved their best Christmas gift ever and provided the base for their son to be a doctor.
While the newly found stardom via coronavirus updates and press conferences may make him seem special, his early life was as working-class as anyone. He worked in the construction of the library of Cornell medical school and graduated first in his class after attending it.
Professional Life
After completing his medical residency period, Anthony Fauci was drafted into the NIH in 1968 as part of the US war effort. His career turned on its head in 1981, when he came across several death reports, mostly seen among gay men. It led him to get credited with works that helped reveal how HIV affects the body. He also led clinical trials for the first antiretroviral drug to treat Aids. It’s called zidovudine.
It was in 1984 when he was appointed as the director of the Allergy and Infectious Diseases division at the NIH.