Photos courtesy of: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Dr. Anthony Fauci has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President for seven different administrations. As head of the NIAID, he oversaw research on how to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and more. He has accomplished a long list of medical achievements and scientific observations on understanding the human immune response. This timeline explores Dr. Fauci’s life and the major milestones in his career.
THE EARLY YEARS
Anthony Stephen Fauci was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 24, 1940. His father, Stephen A. Fauci, was a pharmacist who owned his own pharmacy in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The family lived above the pharmacy and a young Tony Fauci would help his father deliver prescriptions by bicycle.
Fauci attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in pre-medicine.
RECEIVING HIS MEDICAL DEGREE
He continued his education at Cornell University’s Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine), in New York City, and graduated at the top of his class with a Doctorate of Medicine in 1966.
Immediately after graduation, Fauci began a four-year internship and residency at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (now Weill Cornell Medical Center) in New York City.
JOINING THE NIAID
Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 1968. He worked under Sheldon M. Wolff, the Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI), who became his close friend and mentor.
Fauci became the head of the LCI's Clinical Physiology Section in January 1974 for three years.
Fauci became the Deputy Clinical Director at the NIAID in January 1977.
In 1983, Dr. Fauci met his future wife, Dr. Christine Grady, at the NIH, where she was working as a clinical nurse specialist at the time. Dr. Fauci asked for her help translating for a Portuguese-speaking patient, which Dr. Grady was fluent in. The two married in 1985 and later had three daughters.
BECOMING DIRECTOR OF THE NIAID
Fauci began his tenure as the Director of the NIAID in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan. He served in this role for 39 years, until his retirement at the end of 2022.
Dr. Fauci played a vital role in the early 1980s in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, acting as a leading researcher on the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS. His treatment of the AIDS crisis was at first widely criticized, and LGBTQIA+ activists directed their anger towards him for what they considered a slow and unorganized response from the government. However, in later years he became a widely respected ally for engaging with and listening to activists.
BECOMING "AMERICA'S DOCTOR"
Fauci served as President Joe Biden's Chief Medical Advisor, from Biden's inauguration in January 2021 until the end of 2022.
In this role, Dr. Fauci helped develop the Biden administration's plan to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine to the nation.
