Fauci helped pioneer the field of human immunoregulation with his contribution towards the understanding of regulation of the human immune response, and is recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents adapt to that response.
In a 1985 he developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. His work is recognized as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.
Fauci has contributed to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses leading to the progression to AIDS. He has outlined the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Fauci has worked to develop strategies for the therapy and immune reconstitution of patients with the disease, as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. His current research is concentrated on identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV.
NIAID research spearheaded by Fauci led to the development of a series of drugs that have made it possible for HIV-positive patients to live long and active lives, without developing full-blown AIDS. Also, today when a person takes anti-HIV drugs and brings down the level of virus in the body to below detectability by sensitive assays, the infected person cannot infect his or her uninfected sexual partner. This is referred to as “treatment as prevention.” His efforts has saved several millions of lives in Africa and throughout the developing world.
In a 2019 analysis of Google Scholar citations, Dr. Fauci ranked as the 41st most highly cited researcher of all time. According to the Web of Science, he ranked 8th out of more than 2.2 million authors in the field of immunology by total citation count between 1980 and January 2019. He is a listed author of more than 1,300 scientific publications and textbooks and is an editor of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine.
As director of NIAID, and chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, he continues to oversee research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as autoimmune disorders, asthma, and allergies He has played a major public role in formulating public policy and reassuring a concerned public during potential public health crises such as outbreaks of Ebola and Zika virus. Now he is engaged in the serious work against the coronavirus. In my opinion, he is the right person at the right time as he was in the past:
Dr. Fauci has delivered major lectures all over the world and 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), the National Medal of Science, the George M. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, the Prince Mahidol Award, and the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award. He also has received 45 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.