Mary Woodard Lasker Award
for Public Service

Award Description

Anthony Fauci
For his role as the principal architect of two major U.S. governmental programs, one aimed at AIDS and the other at biodefense.

The 2007 Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service honors a scientist and public servant who engineered two major US governmental programs—the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the strategy for defending the nation against dangerous biological agents—and who has spoken eloquently on behalf of medical science to the public, Congress, and successive Administrations. Anthony Fauci established himself as a world-class investigator before accepting the directorship of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health. In addition to that role, in which he oversees an extensive research program aimed at preventing, diagnosing, and treating immune-mediated and infectious diseases, Fauci serves as a key adviser to the White House and Department of Health and Human Services on global AIDS/HIV issues and public health preparedness against natural and man-made biological threats. Fauci rose to prominence in the biomedical community and to AIDS patients through his HIV research in the early 1980s, but today, millions across the United States know him as the man who explains the science behind emerging biological hazards.

Fauci has made noteworthy contributions to basic and clinical research on infectious and immunologically based diseases. During the early 1980s, he recognized—before most investigators—that AIDS posed a major public health problem. He refocused his laboratory's efforts toward studying this illness before anyone had even identified the microbe that causes it. Twenty-five years later, Fauci is still probing the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and discerning how to harness the resulting knowledge to design prevention and therapeutic strategies. He has earned a place in the highest tier of the research establishment, and in 1992, he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Aid for AIDS
As director of the NIAID, a position he has held since 1984, Fauci has gone well beyond his basic duties. He has articulated problems of enormous public-health significance to the federal government and guided the design and implementation of effective policies. Foremost among these efforts has been the formulation and development—at the request of the President—of what is now known as PEPFAR, a program with the potential to save millions of lives in more than 120 countries, with a special emphasis on 15 nations in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia that represent approximately half of the world's infections. PEPFAR aims to prevent 7 million new HIV infections, treat 2 million HIV-infected individuals with antiretroviral therapy, and care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans over a 5- to 7-year period. This $15 billion, multifaceted approach to combating the disease around the world is the largest commitment ever by any nation for an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease. In May, President Bush announced that he will reauthorize the program for another 5 years and has proposed to double the initial U.S. pledge. The United States now leads the world in its level of support for the fight against HIV/AIDS, due in large part to Fauci's efforts.

Disarming Biological Threats
After the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Fauci conceived a research and public-health program designed to rapidly improve countermeasures against potential bioterror agents. This plan intends to spur basic biomedical discoveries and quickly translate them into diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. In addition, Fauci has played a major role in the development and implementation of Project Bioshield, whose purpose is to protect Americans against a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack. Its main goal is to provide a secure source of funds with which to guarantee purchase of effective vaccines or medications. In addition, it endeavors to accelerate the pace of relevant research and give the Food and Drug Administration powers to distribute countermeasures swiftly in an emergency.

Following the anthrax scare of 2001, Fauci became one of the most visible faces of the federal administration on bioterrorism-related issues. He calmly and logically laid out what was known about various threats and described the scientific and policy questions that remained to be answered. For example, he explained that anthrax is not spread from person to person. Without creating unnecessary panic, he told the public that an attack using biological agents was possible—and that the United States needed to prepare itself. His honest yet non-hysterical manner rallied support for national expenditures on public-health infrastructure, including vaccines.

Simultaneously, Fauci pointed out weaknesses in this nation's arsenal against potentially devastating scourges such as smallpox; in 2001, the United States had only 18 million doses of the smallpox vaccine. He implemented a plan that now has produced 400 million doses. Fauci was also influential in convincing President Bush to bolster the United States' preparedness against natural dangers such as seasonal and avian flu.

Compelling Diplomacy
Fauci has dealt successfully with many U.S. Presidents and their Administrations, as well as Congress: He began directing the NIAID at the end of the Reagan era, and then advised George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and, most recently, George W. Bush. He has also worked with various heads of the Department of Health and Human Services and testified before Congress many times. He is widely respected by politicians and political appointees of different ideologies for concerning himself with public health rather than politics and for speaking the scientific truth. Throughout his tenure as a national adviser, he has stressed the importance of paying attention to emerging and reemerging biological menaces, whether they arise naturally or get "help" from nefarious humans.

Fauci activated the HIV program that became U.S. and then international policy. He engineered the United States' strategies to biological warfare, promoting a reasoned and scientific approach to a variety of domestic and international threats. This tactic has earned him first-class marks and tremendous powers of persuasion among federal administrations, scientists, and the general public. From HIV/AIDS to biodefense, he has engaged the public and propelled significant global health issues to the top of research and policy agendas in the United States and abroad.

By Evelyn Strauss, Ph.D.