2008

Dinner at Capitol Hilton Hotel to celebrate Sam Alito getting the Lido Award. Dinner sponsored by NIAF. John Salamone (Executive Director of NIAF) asked Chris and me to sit at Alito’s table along with Gen. Peter Pace…

Gave lecture Global health at USA Families Conference at the Mayflower Hotel. The speaker before me was my friend former Senator Tom Daschle. Tom gave a great talk on health care in the USA based on a book that he has…

Activity mostly centered around the Democrat and Republic primaries. McCain surging from way behind, Giuliani is out. Obama closing in on Hillary.

Went to White House to nail down with Dan Price, Gary Edson, Patrick Marcham, Mark Dybul, Paul Brown, Bobby Pittman and others the various aspects of the initiatives that the POTUS might want to announce at G-8, or the…

Did dry run of my upcoming presentation to VP Cheney on Bruce Miller. He really liked it. Will soon set up for the VP.

NY Giants beat NE Patriots in an upset in the Super bowl played in Phoenix. NY’s defensive line kept Tom Brady off balance all night and Eli Manning played incredibly well.

CROI meeting in Boston. Went to show the flag, meet with African investigators from Uganda (Rakai) and see vaccine presentations. Ron Desrosiers gave his talk about the imbalance between discovery and development in…

Had lunch at café Milano with Franco Nuschese (Owner of Café Milano) to discuss an issue with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He would like to bring the health minister to the USA and have me show him around the NIH…

My picture and a story concerning me (in part) appeared in the Science Section of the New York Times today. It was related to the interview that I gave in Toronto last summer to 2 small children with the theme of…

Participated in a State Department function for Jenna Bush on the occasion of celebrating her new book “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope”. Took place in the main auditorium of the State department. I was the main speaker…

Meeting in White House (EEOB 445) led by Bob Kadlec of HSC.. Was “Top Secret” meeting on anthrax threat with emphasis on drug resistant and even vaccine resistant anthrax. Based on supposed intelligence that Al Qaeda…

Busy and nice social evening. Dropped in briefly to the NCS Annual Spring Festival “Casino Night” at the Athletic Center. Said hello to the usual suspects and then went to the Newseum at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue to…

Another in a long string of Global Health initiative meetings at the White House (EEOB 374) led by Dan Price (see above) with Gary Edson, Mark Dybul, Patrick Marcham, Mike Magan, Paul Brown, Dana DeRuiter. Mainly…

A most amazing and unique evening. Michael Gerson (former Bush speech-writer and advisor) and current Washington Post columnist (see other discussions above) invited Chris and me to his house for a private dinner with…

I organized and ran what might be an historic meeting today on the future of HIV Vaccine Research. Ever since the disappointing results from the STEP trial (Merck ad5 prime-boost – see above), there has been increasing…

Rave reviews coming in regarding “my leadership” during the Summit. Went down to White House (NEOB 5235) to brief OSTP WH Science Advisor Jack Marburger and his staff together with staff from FLOTUS on the HIV vaccine…

Visited Princeton University to Deliver the Inaugural Adel Mahmoud Lectureship and to participate in a Panel discussion with Bill Frist, Andrew McGuire, and Beatrice Hahn at a Symposium on “No Country Left Behind…

I will be attending his memorial service at the Kennedy Center tomorrow. Bono called me today to congratulate me on receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I caught him up on my family and mentioned that Megan was…

Attended the memorial service for Tim Russert at the Kennedy Center. Extraordinary Washington affair with the total “A list” present. Hosted by Tom Brokaw. See book published in 2013 called “This Town” by Marc Liebovich…

Extraordinary day at the White House for the Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremonies. Crisp, clear blue sky, sunny and comfortable day. A lot of joy in the presentations (see my written file records of what was said…

Gave lecture at the Ideas Festival at Aspen, CO on HIV/AIDS in 2025: Will we have a vaccine and a cure by then?”. Usual ambiance of Aspen with nice dinner on the night of July 2 catered by the famous Alice Waters of…

Wonderful day. Chris Hultzen arranged to have Danny and Joe Hultzen and their friend Austin do “batting practice” with me at STA field. Danny pitched to me and it was terrific. I hit several line drives to outfield, but…

Made what some are saying is a “landmark decision not to proceed with the PAVE 100 HIV vaccine trial of the NIAID VRC product. This followed weeks and months of committee meetings and recommendation such as the AIDS…

Christine, Meg and Ali left for Rwanda to spend 2 weeks working with Paul Farmer in his Clinic. More later.

Testified before Rep. Henry Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Rayburn House Building Room 2154. Topic = HIV prevention in light of the new numbers from CDC showing that the incidence in USA…

On Sept. 23, 2008 Elias Zerhouni announced that he would step down as NIH Director at the end of October, right before the election to avoid any confusion about political issues and to call attention to the vacancy for…

Gave Inaugural Ben Kean Lecture on Global Health at New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center. Great déjà vu feeling about my years there. Much adulation among house staff at lecture and morning…

Big news today. Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology given to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for HIV and to Harald Zur Hausen for HPV discovery.. This is a big slight to Gallo, likely because of the…

Went to dinner party at Ellen and Gerry Sigal’s home. Present were Chris Grady, Ellen, Gerry, Richard and Donna Benveniste, Bill and Melody Wilson, Larry and Carla Silverstein, Neera Tanden and husband Dan. Neera is on…

Was invited by former President George H.W. Bush to attend the christening of the new aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush at Norfolk , VA on Jan. 10, 2009. Nov.24, 2008 – Breakfast and panel discussion at the National…

Received a call from Aaron Pickrell who is running the Obama transition team for HHS and sub-agencies. He said that my name is actively being discussed for NIH director and he wanted to know if I was interested. I was…

Had brunch with small group of people at Richard and Donna Ben- Veniste’s house. He is a great guy with whom Chris and I have developed a nice friendship. He asked about the NIH Director job and suggested without my…

Sunday AM (pouring rain). I had backed out of the Redskins- NY Giants game with Gene Elrod because my daughters were home for Thanksgiving weekend. Got a call from Jay Lefkowitz who is writing a brief history of PEPFAR…

Annual Christmas Party at Sam and Jan Donaldson’s home. As usual, great time with the standard cast of characters some of whom are: Colin Powell, Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Bob Barnett, George Will, Ellen and Gerry Sigal (told…

(Sunday) – got e-mail asking me to call Mike Froman from the Obama Transition Team, wanting to know if I was interested in the NIH Director’s job. He said that Obama had mentioned my name to him and asked that he…

Chris and I went to the VP Mansion for the Annual Christmas Party. Bitter-sweet since this is the last one that I will have gone to the mansion for the Bush Administration and maybe (who knows?) the last visit that I…

On an unseasonably warm night for December, went to the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, D.C. (12th and Maryland Avenue, SW) to receive the “25 Greatest Public Servants” Award from the Council for Excellence in Government…