Thank you, Tony!

Anthony Fauci—“Tony” to friends, colleagues, and many journalists—has never backed down from controversy. During the worst of the AIDS crisis, when HIV infection was a death sentence, he was targeted by protestors frustrated by the US government’s sluggish response. Instead of ignoring their complaints, Fauci listened, acted, and eventually came to be seen as an ally to activists, all the while battling charlatans who tried to insist that HIV didn’t cause AIDS. When the COVID-19 pandemic came along, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was a natural choice to help lead the country’s response, and he soon became one of the most recognizable physician-scientists in the world. Fauci recently announced that he would end his time in the federal government in December 2022. He sat down with me to talk about the challenges facing science and his plans for the future. The full transcript of our interview, which is filled with valuable insights into science policy and communication, is posted on the Editor’s Blog, but I wanted to share a few highlights here.