Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will receive the 2001 Frank Annunzio Award in the Humanitarian Field from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, an independent federal government agency.

The Annunzio awards (see http://www.discover.com/awards/annunzio) are presented annually to living Americans whose thinking has led to creative work, process, product or other achievement that has had a significant and beneficial impact on society. This year, the Columbus Foundation will award two prizes: one in the Humanitarian Field to Dr. Fauci, and the other to architect Michael Graves in the field of Arts/Humanities.

The awards will be presented during a gala dinner Sunday, October 7, at the Sheraton Chicago beginning at 6:30 p.m. Prior to the dinner, the Foundation will host a reception from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., at which time the award winners will be available for media interviews. Further details regarding the awards ceremony and interview opportunities are available by calling Darlene Cavalier at (215) 629-8662.

In summarizing Dr. Fauci's accomplishments, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation writes: "From the early 1970s to the present, Dr. Fauci has been internationally recognized as one of the world's leading researchers in the study of the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases. His contributions toward understanding the regulation of the human immune response and the pathogenesis of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease are universally renowned, and have served as the basis for our current strategies for the development of effective therapies for AIDS as well as for regeneration of the damaged immune system."

Ruth Kirschstein, M.D., acting NIH director, comments: "Dr. Fauci is richly deserving of this honor. I have known Dr. Fauci for nearly 30 years, and seen first-hand his extraordinary accomplishments as a scientist, clinician, administrator and communicator of science. As a physician/scientist, he has been a true pioneer, especially in our understanding of HIV/AIDS. As an Institute director, he has overseen the remarkable growth of NIAID and the development of critical national and international programs to fight AIDS and other infectious and immunological diseases of global importance."

Previous winners of the Annunzio award include:

• John J. Wild, M.D., Ph.D., pioneer of modern diagnostic medical ultrasound

• Charles H. Townes, Ph.D., inventor of the laser

• Millard Fuller, founder and president, Habitat for Humanity International

• Maya Lin, sculptor/architect and creator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

• Robert Gallo, M.D., biomedical researcher and co-discoverer of the AIDS virus

Dr. Fauci: A Brief Biography

Dr. Fauci, a 60-year-old native of Brooklyn, New York, received his M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1966. He then completed an internship and residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. In 1968, Dr. Fauci came to the NIH as a Clinical Associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI) at NIAID. In 1972, he became a Senior Investigator in the LCI. In 1974, Dr. Fauci became Head of the Clinical Physiology Section, LCI, and in 1980, he was appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, a position he still holds. Dr. Fauci became Director of NIAID in 1984.

Dr. Fauci has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated and infectious diseases. He is an internationally renowned scientist and has pioneered the field of human immunoregulation by making a number of basic scientific observations that serve as the basis for current understanding of the regulation of the human immune response. In addition, Dr. Fauci is widely recognized for delineating the precise mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents modulate the human immune response. He has developed effective therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis. A 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey of the American Rheumatism Association membership ranked the work of Dr. Fauci on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and Wegener's granulomatosis as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.

Dr. Fauci has made seminal contributions to the understanding of how the AIDS virus destroys the body's defenses leading to its susceptibility to deadly infections. He has also delineated the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Furthermore, he has been instrumental in developing strategies for the therapy and immune reconstitution of patients with this serious disease as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. He continues to devote much of his research time to identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to the AIDS retrovirus.

In 1995, an Institute for Scientific Information study indicated that in the period of 1981-1994, among more than 1 million scientists throughout the world who published during that time frame, Dr. Fauci was the fifth most cited. Through the years, Dr. Fauci has served as Visiting Professor at major medical centers throughout the country. He has delivered many major lectureships all over the world and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for his scientific accomplishments, including 22 honorary doctorate degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (Council Member), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, as well as a number of other professional societies including the American College of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; and as author, co-author, or editor of more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks.

Additional information is available at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/director/director.htm.

NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.