The White House Task Force is a team of health officials and advisors that are working tirelessly to ensure our safety and our health. They brief the press every day on developments in the coronavirus pandemic. One of the health officials on this team is Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a role he has been in since 1984. He is an American hero and a calm and inspiring figure in my life. 

Born Anthony Stephen Fauci on December 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, he loved to play sports. He was on the basketball team at his high school, Regis High School, a Jesuit university-preparatory school. He worked as a cashier at his parents’ pharmacy. After high school, Fauci pursued pre medical studies at the College of The Holy Cross in our home state of Massachusetts. He earned his medical degree from Cornell University. Before becoming the director of NIAID, Dr. Fauci was an intern and resident at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

When Dr. Fauci first heard about the coronavirus in China, he gathered together a team of experts to help create a vaccine. When the virus started to spread in the US, he was in close contact with the Centers for Disease Control to help alert citizens of the danger that was to come. Dr. Fauci is focused on science, not politics. Dr. Fauci famously said on CNN that, “You don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.” Fauci’s statement has validity to it because we don’t know when the virus will end. It could be tomorrow or it could be in two months. Only God knows!

Dr. Fauci has a distinguished career known for fighting infectious diseases. He has aided the fights against a number of frightening viruses including, Ebola, West Nile, Sars, Swine, and HIV/AIDS. For his work with many of these viruses, he has won many awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service. Dr. Fauci has counseled six presidents on global health. 

Dr. Fauci is so popular that people are finding creative ways to express their gratitude. Donut Crazy in New Haven, Connecticut is making doughnuts with Fauci’s face on it. The store is donating doughnuts to healthcare workers using the proceeds. Along with many nationwide fans, my family is very appreciative and grateful for Fauci’s efforts. Whenever he speaks on the television, there is a sense of serenity in my home. If my Dad and I start to talk while he is reporting, my mom will say “Be quiet, the Fauch is on.” My mom also says “He inspires confidence and calm and explains complicated scientific concepts in a way that we can all understand.”

At Montrose, we have an amazing science faculty who teach and inspire us.  And Dr. Bohlin tells us that we are all called to greatness. Who knows? There may be a future Dr. Fauci among us. For now, we can take every opportunity to be our best selves. Carpe Diem! Study hard, pray for an end to this virus, help our families at home, and above all, listen to Dr. Fauci on CNN. 

Kate Novack ’24, Middle-School Editor 

24knoack@montroseschool.org