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Pioneer in HIV Honored
By Claire Hughes, Albany Times Union

March 28, 2002 - - NEW YORK -- The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who since Sept. 11 has spearheaded the drive to develop vaccines to fight potential bioterrorist agents, was named winner of the $500,000 Albany Medical Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research on Wednesday.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci accepted the award at a ceremony at the New York Academy of Sciences, where he was recognized for his work at the institute and research into AIDS and other illnesses. A reception and dinner will be held at the Franklin Plaza in Troy on April 17.

At a news conference announcing the award, Fauci hinted that researchers have made progress toward efforts to produce enough smallpox vaccine to deter potential terrorists from using the virus in the United States.

National health officials are expected to make an announcement about efforts to dilute the nation's supply of 15 million doses of smallpox vaccine into the 75 million or more doses estimated to be needed in a national attack, Fauci said.

"One of the best deterrents of someone propagating on us a smallpox attack is if we're prepared,'' said Fauci, who would not comment on details of the vaccine dilution study, but said it was successful.

Fauci is the second winner of the Albany Medical Prize. The first was Arnold Levine, a pioneering cancer researcher who in 1979 co-discovered a gene believed to prevent common cancers by keeping damaged cells from multiplying.

In presenting the medical award -- the largest in the nation and second only to Sweden's Nobel Prize worldwide -- Albany Medical Center Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer James J. Barba lauded Fauci as a doctor, scientist and public servant.

"There could, in my estimation, have been no better choice,'' Barba said.

The prize was created in 2000 with a $50 million gift from Troy native and New York City philanthropist Morris "Marty'' Silverman, who hopes to help develop Albany as a hub for health and education. Silverman told Fauci during the ceremony: "You now will become a steppingstone to that dream.''

Fauci's work will focus on developing vaccines to prevent agents that could be used in bioterrorist attacks as well as the HIV virus, which is associated with AIDS. His pioneering work on HIV and AIDS goes back 20 years, when the disease was first identified in this country, and his findings remain the basis of much current research in the field.

"I cannot see myself stopping what I'm doing until we have a vaccine'' to prevent HIV, he said. "A vaccine is within reach,'' he added, though he said it would not be within the next year or two.

Fauci was surprised to hear he had won the prize, he said. He knew of the prize through Levine, and when he saw a message from Barba earlier this month he assumed the Albany Med chief wanted his opinion on a candidate. When he called back, Barba congratulated him.

"I was standing up,'' Fauci said. "I had to sit down at my desk.''

Fauci is still thinking about how to spend his windfall, he said.

The Brooklyn native received his bachelor's degree from the College of Holy Cross and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College.

The Albany Medical Prize selection committee is made up of 10 scholars, doctors and researchers from the Capital Region and around the country, including Dr. Marlene Belfort, director of the Division of Genetic Disorders at the state's Wadsworth Center, and Dr. Judah Folkman, professor of pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital, Boston.

A handful of the 45 nominations for this year's prize were from other countries, said Ronald Joyce, an Albany Med vice president and administrator to the prize selection committee.

While the prize was established to raise Albany's profile, the news conference was held in New York City to accommodate Silverman, who has had health problems.

'Pioneer in HIV honored' - timesunion.com
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=79856&category=F

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ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFO FOR DR. FAUCI
...Anthony Stephen Fauci was born December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Bensonhurt section of the borough, where his father, Stephen, was a pharmacist and his mother, Eugenia, a homemaker. As a teen, Fauci commuted to Manhattan, where he attended Regis High School, excelling academically and playing on the basketball team.

He won a full scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and majored in Greek, Latin and philosophy, earning a bachelor's degree in 1962.

He received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in Ithaca, New York, in 1966 and then completed an internship and residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

In 1968, he joined the National Institutes of Health, the focal point of medical research in the United States, as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at the NIAID....

An admitted workaholic, he arrives at the office before 7 a.m. Fauci frequently puts in an 80-hour week, including working on Saturdays. His myriad professional duties have cut in to the amount of time he spends with his family....

Not surprisingly, he met his wife, Christine Grady, at the bedside of a patient....

Now married for 16 years, the couple have three daughters, ranging in age from 15 to 9. Fauci picks the girls up from gymnastics in the evening when he leaves work, and the family eats dinner together at around 9:30 p.m....

At 60, Fauci shows no signs of slowing down....

CNN/TIME - America's Best
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/science.medicine/pro.afauci.html

ADDITIONAL BIO INFO

The Body: NIH/NIAID: Anthony S. Fauci Awarded 2001 Frank Annunzio Award
www.thebody.com/niaid/2001/award.html

In 1995, an Institute for Scientific Information study indicated that in the period of 1981-1994, among more than 1 million scientists throughout the world who published during that time frame, Dr. Fauci was the fifth most cited.

NIAID - Director's Page
www.niaid.nih.gov/director/director.htm

Online NewsHour: Dr. Anthony Fauci -- December 19, 2001
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec01/fauci_12-19.html

Online NewsHour: Newsmaker: Dr. Anthony Fauci -- October 31, 2001
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec01/anthrax_10-31.html

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