Siena College is honored to have the opportunity to recognize the life and exceptional achievements of Doctor Anthony S. Fauci, physician and world-renowned medical researcher.
Dr. Fauci, a native of Brooklyn, New York, was awarded his degree as a Doctor of Medicine from Cornell University Medical College in 1966. He subsequently completed an internship and residency at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY. In 1968, Dr. Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health as a Clinical Associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). In 1980, he was appointed Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, a position he still holds.
Dr. Fauci was appointed Director of NIAID in 1984. As Director, he oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases such as HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies. The NIAID budget for Fiscal Year 2010 was approximately $4.8 billion. Dr. Fauci serves as one of the key advisors to the White House and Department of Health and Human Services on global AIDS issues, and on initiatives to bolster medical and public health preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats such as pandemic influenza.
Dr. Fauci has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases. He has pioneered the field of human immunoregulation by making a number of basic scientific observations that serve as the basis for current understanding of the regulation of the human immune response. In addition, Dr. Fauci is widely recognized for delineating the precise mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents modulate the human immune response. He has developed effective therapies for formerly fatal inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. A 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey of the American Rheumatism Association membership ranked the work of Dr. Fauci on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and Wegener's granulomatosis as one of the most important advances in patient management in Rheumatology during the previous 20 years.
Dr. Fauci has made significant contributions to the understanding of how the AIDS virus destroys the body's defenses leading to its susceptibility to deadly infections. He also has delineated the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Furthermore, he has been instrumental in developing highly effective strategies for the therapy of patients with this serious disease, as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. He continues to devote much of his research time to identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to the AIDS retrovirus.
In 2003, an Institute for Scientific Information study indicated that in the twenty year period from 1983 to 2002, Dr. Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist among the 2.5 to 3 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world who published articles in scientific journals during that time frame. Dr. Fauci was the world's 1O, most-cited HIV / AIDS researcher in the period 1996-2006.
Through the years, Dr. Fauci has served as a Visiting Professor at major medical centers throughout the country. He has delivered many major lectures throughout the world and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for his scientific accomplishments, including The Presidential Medal of Freedom; The National Medal of Science; The GeorgeM. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians; The Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service; The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research; and numerous honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine (Council Member), the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, as well as a number of other professional societies including the American College of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Association of Immunologists, and the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; and is author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,100 scientific publications, including several textbooks.
In recognition of his lifetime of noble service as a physician, medical researcher, and public official, Siena College awards Doctor Anthony S. Fauci, the honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters.