As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the nation, a person key in communicating public health and medical information has been Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Dr. Fauci will give the CHEST 2020 keynote address Sunday, October 18, from 8:45 am to 9:45 am CT, covering various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re so pleased to have Dr. Fauci speak to the CHEST community, many who have been on the front lines fighting this pandemic,” said CHEST President Stephanie Levine, MD, FCCP. “Dr. Fauci has been an important spokesperson and national figure for COVID-19 and has helped sort out anecdotal reports from what’s backed by evidence-based research. He has been the dedicated leader who provides a strong scientific approach to disseminating information around the pandemic to the public.”

Dr. Fauci oversees an extensive research portfolio devoted to preventing, diagnosing, and treating infectious and immune-mediated diseases at NIAID—including providing national direction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has been a key advisor to six presidents and their administrations on global AIDS issues, and on initiatives to bolster medical and public health preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats such as Ebola and pandemic influenza. As an HIV/AIDS researcher, he has been involved in the scientific effort since AIDS was recognized in 1981, conducting pivotal studies that underpin the current understanding of the disease and efforts to develop therapies and tools of prevention. Dr. Fauci was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has helped save millions of lives throughout the developing world. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest honor given to a civilian by the President of the United States). He has been awarded 45 honorary doctoral degrees and is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications, including several major textbooks.

Dr. Levine, who has known Dr. Fauci’s leadership since the HIV epidemic of the 80s and 90s when she was training, expects Dr. Fauci to review the current clinical guidelines for COVID-19 and how to prepare and fight a resurgence of the viral pandemic. 

“We’re potentially concerned about a second wave or peak in the fall,” Dr. Levine said. “We don’t know what the relationship will be with COVID and influenza, but I think Dr. Fauci will give us some encouragement and thoughts on what to expect if a second wave comes. ‘Will we do things differently or will we prepare differently?’“

COVID-19 has affected all CHEST members, from pulmonary critical care physicians, advanced practice providers, and respiratory therapists to critical care nurses, and every part of CHEST membership—from virtual board review, and now this, our first virtual annual meeting, she said.

“We are on the front lines in all the respects of this disease,” Dr. Levine said. “It’s been a whole team effort.”