AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Scientific Officer Ross McKinney Jr., MD, issued the following statement in response to the announcement that Anthony Fauci, MD, will step down from his roles as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden in December:
“The AAMC congratulates Dr. Fauci for his distinguished career in government service, including almost four decades leading NIAID. As a pioneering and stalwart leader in science, medicine, and public health throughout the years — combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic since the 1980s, the Ebola and Zika viruses, and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic — Dr. Fauci has helped save countless lives around the world. The mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 are a direct result of decades of research supported and advanced by the NIH and NIAID specifically, under Dr. Fauci’s leadership.
“While the academic medicine community has long revered his skill and expertise as a physician-scientist and immunologist, Dr. Fauci’s commitment to scientific integrity and public health during the COVID-19 pandemic especially earned him the respect of millions more across the globe. Last year, the AAMC awarded Dr. Fauci its Special Recognition Award for his lifetime of public service.
“We thank Dr. Fauci and his family for their dedication and sacrifice to improving the health of people everywhere.”