THURSDAY, Feb. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped Americans navigate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, will reflect on his career in a memoir set for release this summer.

His publisher, Viking, announced that the book, titled “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” will go on sale June 18.

“I hope that this memoir will serve as a personalized document for the reader to understand better the daunting challenges that we have faced in public health over the past 40 years,” Fauci said in a statement released Thursday by Viking, the Associated Press reported. “I would also like to inspire younger individuals in particular to consider careers in public health and public service.”

Fauci, 83, served under eight presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, and spent 40 years of his career directing the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

In the 1980s, Fauci first came under fire from AIDS activists frustrated with the slow pace of research into a new and fatal virus, HIV, that was ravaging certain communities.

However, attitudes quickly changed as Fauci encouraged meetings between researchers and activists, as well as the participation of activists and people living with AIDS in the search for effective treatments.

Fauci also worked with then-president George W. Bush to help create PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has gone on to help save millions of lives globally. In 2008, Bush awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom for “his efforts to advance the understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS.”

But it was his second fight with a virus — COVID-19 — that Fauci will be most remembered for, be it good or bad.

While many Americans revere Fauci as the science-driven voice of reason that helped shepherd a bewildered nation through the COVID years, others on the right fought hard against his advocacy for vaccines and infection control measures.

Fauci’s contentious relationship with then-president Donald Trump spurred many anti-vaccine opponents to publish their own books that sought to undermine his reputation.

The financial deal behind Viking’s publication has not been revealed, the AP said. Fauci is being represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose clients have included Bush and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, the news agency said.

SOURCE: Associated Press

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