Anthony Fauci Discusses Georgetown’s Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Health
Anthony S. Fauci (H’90), M.D., a Distinguished University Professor and member of the Health Sciences Board of Advisors at Georgetown University, recently joined NBC News Chief Washington and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell for an intimate fireside chat with other advisory board members and friends.
Choosing Georgetown
At the December 7 event at the home of board member Robert Pullen and his husband, Luke Frazier, Mitchell began by asking Fauci why he chose Georgetown at a time when many institutions sought to recruit him.
“When the time came for me to step down [from the National Institutes of Health], I asked myself, what is the best way I can continue to contribute? Georgetown was a natural fit,” Fauci said.
Fauci joined Georgetown in July 2023 as a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Medicine and the McCourt School of Public Policy. The appointment followed a 38-year tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. During that period, he was a central figure in responses to major health crises, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic and later, the COVID-19 pandemic.
He described Georgetown as a uniquely interdisciplinary environment where scientific, clinical, policy, and global perspectives intersect. “It is like a candy store of opportunity,” he said. “I spend as much time with colleagues in the School of Foreign Service as I do with those at the College of Arts & Sciences.”
Fauci noted the Global Health Institute as a driver for this collaboration. “You have multiple different elements at Georgetown, each of which either contribute to or benefit from global health activities,” he said.
To help promote global health work and other scientific and academic strengths at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), Fauci joined the Health Sciences Board of Advisors. The board acts as thought partners, advocates, and connectors who place a priority on the medical center’s mission, vision, and strategic goals. Members also provide advice to Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., medical center leadership, and the Georgetown University Board of Directors’ Committee on Medical Center Affairs.
Cura Personalis in Practice
During the conversation with Mitchell, Fauci, who attended both a Jesuit high school and college, spoke about Georgetown’s principle of cura personalis (caring for the person).
“I have always felt it was more important to be concerned about the individual with the disease rather than the disease that the individual has,” he said.
The perspective guided his work as a founding architect of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the bipartisan initiative launched in 2003 that has saved more than 26 million lives.
By the early 2000s, he explained, lifesaving HIV treatment was widely available in high-income countries but remained out of reach for millions in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Fauci said the stark disparity prompted President George W. Bush to ask him to help develop a large-scale global response.
“PEPFAR allowed us to address the disparity and to understand the context and humanity of each person we were helping,” he said.
Trust in Science
Turning to trust, Fauci acknowledged the erosion of trust in science as one of the biggest challenges of our time, pointing to past abuses and present-day misinformation.
“There have been some bad things that have been done in science,” he said, using the Tuskegee Experiment as an example, in which hundreds of African American men were misled into thinking they were receiving medical care.
He added that social media amplifies the problem at an unprecedented scale. “If you say something on social media it becomes true not for a few people, but for millions and millions of people,” said Fauci. “The normalization of untruths compounds this idea of trust.”
While he noted that there are no quick fixes, Fauci said that institutions like Georgetown, with their longstanding commitment to integrity and empathy, are positioned to help restore confidence in science.
Global Health as a Georgetown Priority
Global health is one of the official university strategic initiatives for Called to Be: The Campaign for Georgetown and is a GUMC Pillar of Excellence.
In his closing remarks, Beauchamp noted that Georgetown brings a distinctive approach to global health, one rooted in listening to local leaders, partnering with faith communities, and building in-country capacity.
“If we surround ourselves with people who lift others up, there is no limit to how high we can fly,” he said.