Tuesday, August 14, 2001

Terrell Halaska (Deputy Chief of Staff to Secr. Thompson) called with almost identical pleas as that of Bob Wood (see above). She mentioned that I am frequently mentioned at the White House and that the President wanted very much for me to be NIH Director. I told Terrell that I did not want to do this and explained to her that my reasons were similar to those 12 years ago when I said no to President Bush (the elder), i.e. I wanted to work fulltime on the AIDS epidemic and on Global Health and Infectious Diseases. She was very understanding and was quite complimentary to me, saying what an honor it was to work with me. Clearly, the phone call went well.