By Owen Phelps, Ph.D.
Director, Yeshua Institute
Our nominee for Leader of the Year – maybe Leader of the Decade – is Anthony Fauci, M.D.
He is Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). a post he has held since 1984.
Widely considered "the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases," he is also a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force -- where despite his diminutive stature he has been speaking truth to power quite publicly since being appointed to that post in January.
You almost certainly know him as the short, energetic and articulate doctor whose presence on television is ubiquitous. Despite the fact that he is 79 years old, he seems absolutely tireless as he moves from standing beside President Trump at White House Covid-19 briefings to so many television appearances that he is clearly on call to the entire nation.
The other night I saw him live as a guest on a late-night newscast before I went to bed. Next morning, first thing I turned on the television and there he was, live on another news show on another channel, his hair neatly combed and his eyes sparkling. As always, he listened closely to questions without interrupting – and then he actually answered them, clearly, completely but concisely, so I could understand him even before I had finished my first cup of coffee … which is to say, long before I would have dared put a razor anywhere near my throat.
Of course he was already well-shaven and meticulously dressed in coat and tie.
On Sunday morning, March 15, he made appearances on the major news shows at ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN. Yes, that’s five major network news show appearances – all on a single morning. Try that sometime … when you are 79.
Dr. Fauci has been an advisor on public health issues to six presidents, dating back to Ronald Reagan, and I daresay he has probably never been needed more in that role than today.
It’s not like he has a lot of free time on his hands.
As head of NIAID for 36 years, that agency’s website explains that “he oversees an extensive portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.”
The website continues: “Dr. Fauci also is the longtime chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases. He helped pioneer the field of human immunoregulation by making important basic scientific observations that underpin the current understanding of the regulation of the human immune response.”
There is probably no single person more responsible for figuring out HIV/AIDS – and for making it possible for people to survive it.
He is author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications, including several textbooks. A measure of the significance of his research is that out of more than 2.2 million authors in the field of immunology between 1980 and January 2019, he is the 8th most frequently cited.
The list of the prestigious awards he has won goes on and on, but it is worth mentioning that he was presented the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Media of Freedom, by President George W. Bush back in 2008 – fully 12 years ago.
If you are looking for a model of S3 Jesus-like Leadership, look no further than to this brilliant, cogent, selfless, tireless and fearless man whose contributions to the body of human knowledge and now to our layman’s knowledge about how to survive Covid-19 may very well save our lives and quite possibly the lives of our neighbors.
Thank you, Dr. Fauci. May God continue to shower you with blessings for many, many years to come.