Early in his career, Anthony S. Fauci carried out both basic and clinical research in immunology and infectious diseases. Since 1981, Fauci's research has been focused on the mechanisms of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) . His work has lead to breakthroughs in understanding the virus's progress, especially during the latency period between infection and full-blown AIDS. As director of both the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci is involved with much of the AIDS research performed in the United States and is responsible for supervising the investigation of the disease mechanism and the development of vaccines and drug therapy.

Anthony Stephen Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, to Stephen A. Fauci, a pharmacist, and Eugenia A. Fauci, a homemaker. He attended a Jesuit high...