Fauci says newly announced memoir to show 'daunting challenges' in public health

Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Dr. Anthony Fauci will reflect on his expansive career in public health in a new memoir.

Publisher Viking Press told news outlets Thursday that Fauci's memoir, On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service will come out on June. 18.

"I hope that this memoir will serve as a personalized document for the reader to understand better the daunting challenges that we have faced in public health over the past 40 years," Fauci said in a statement. "I would also like to inspire younger individuals in particular to consider careers in public health and public service."

Fauci, 83, has worked in public health for nearly 50 years. He previously served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health and was the NIH's AIDs coordinator.

He served under seven presidents, going back to Ronald Regan. President George W. Bush in 2008 awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his "his efforts to advance the understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS."

Fauci also gave updates on the Zika and Ebola viruses during the Obama administration and served as chief medical adviser for President Joe Biden until his retirement in 2022.

He gained worldwide notoriety for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci was a strong advocate for vaccines and following public-safety guidelines, which drew the ire of the Trump administration and many conservatives.

"You have a devastating public health challenge in the midst of a very divisive society, in a very hotly contested political year. You put all of those ingredients together and it's been quite challenging," Fauci told People magazine in 2020, when the magazine recognized him as one of the People's four people of the year.

His clash with the Trump administration has made him the subject of Republican and anti-vax criticism, with prominent figures releasing their own books on the matter, such as Sen. Rand Paul's Deception: The Great COVID Cover-Up and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s The Real Anthony Fauci.

Fauci was mired in another medical controversy prior to COVID.

Activist group ACT Up condemned Fauci in the 1980s for what it called his indifferent response to the spread of AIDS. Fauci, however, won over many critics by meeting with ACT Up and agreeing to let people with HIV serve on research committees and accelerate the process of finding treatments.

Fauci now serves as a distinguished university professor at Georgetown University.