Top US doctor wins big prize for fight against Covid-193 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesDr Anthony Fauci, the top expert in the US on infectious diseases, has proved that science and knowledge always come first. Fauci has been honoured with a top international prize for work and efforts to combat coronavirus and other infectious diseases.
He has been awarded a whopping $1 million by the Dan David Foundation, which has its headquarters at Tel Aviv University in Israel. The annual prize is awarded based on past, present and future works carried out by individuals, and Fauci is the only winner in the ‘present’ category.
His work on fighting diseases such as HIV, Ebola, Zika and more recently the Covis-19 pandemic is what brought him this recognition.
“Dr Fauci has been a global leader in control and research of infectious diseases that present a major public health challenge,” Dr Elizabeth Miller, the chair of the selection committee, said in the award announcement.
It added, “As the Covid-19 pandemic unravelled, [he] leveraged his considerable communication skills to address people gripped by fear and anxiety and worked relentlessly to inform individuals in the United States and elsewhere about the public health measures essential for containing the pandemic’s spread.”
‘He advised seven US presidents’
Dr Fauci, an American physician-scientist and immunologist, has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He has worked for American public health in various capacities for more than 50 years, and has been an advisor to every US president since Ronald Reagan!
His fame wasn’t just restricted to the US – from 1983 to 2002, Fauci was one of the world’s most frequently-cited experts across all scientific journals!
In 2008, President George W Bush awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on AIDS.
He currently serves as chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.
Trivia Time!
Guess who: This lady from Kerala was honoured by the United Nations and also made it to the covers of top magazines for her work in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Solve the jigsaw below to uncover who we’re talking about. Guess her name in the comments below!
Sources: BBC, CNN
Photos: The New York Times, Reuters, AP
