Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Wonderful day at NIH. POTUS came in the AM with the Secretary, Bill Corr (Deputy Secretary) and Francis. Marston Linehan and I showed him a lab in the new CRC. First Marston spoke about the genetics of renal cancer and then Francis spoke about the cancer genome atlas. I then spoke to the POTUS about the history of HIV research here in the Clinical Center. I spoke about how I admitted the first AIDS patients in 1981 and how they all died. I then spoke about the major advances in antiretroviral drug development and testing that has transformed the treatment and survival of HIVinfected individuals. I spoke about the recent results of the Thai HIV vaccine trial. He was very engaging, pleasant, funny but serious about the subject. He definitely now has fixed in his mind who I am. When I told him that I had been here since 1968, he joked