I read the Fauci book

Friends did “die ins” back in his day then

What book, you moron??

Fauci is responsible for the deaths of many gay men.

Is that a young Fauci. White boys be looking so fine in youth and then like dorks in middle aged.

Work on your trolling, r3. You totally lack finesse.

I’ll bite.

Even if Reagan HAD threw billions at AIDS when it first came out, the cocktail of meds that was needed wouldn’t have appeared any sooner because the technology simply wasn’t there yet.

The raw power of computing for gene sequencing, the common World Wide Web standard allowing collaboration by researchers and doctors over the internet using a simple browser, and the storage and processing of necessary data and compiling research still sat mired in paper, typewriters, and snail mail. Completely inaccessible and took over a decade of investment in technology to catch up.

The iPhone in your pocket is 1000 times faster than all of NASA had in the 80’s. No amount of huffing and posturing would’ve changed that.

[quote]Even if Reagan HAD threw billions at AIDS when it first came out

Oh, dear.

[quote]Fauci is responsible for the deaths of many gay men.

Fuck Off. He saved millions of gay men's lives. I was there, I have been HIV positive since 1988. That's almost 36 years ago. They didn't even have ANY drugs for it back then except AZT which was about as effective as aspirin. Once he got on board and saw how fast gay men were dying, he reformed the whole system to fast track drug approval from 10 or 20 years of trials down to 1 year. I am alive because of him.

“fauci” means “fraud” in Italian.

Fuck him, he's a piece of shit liar

What an insult to 15-year-olds!

[quote]Once he got on board and saw how fast gay men were dying, he reformed the whole system to fast track drug approval from 10 or 20 years of trials down to 1 year. I am alive because of him.

I'm glad you are.

Fauci had a lot to learn in a limited time window back then. He did well.

Fauci is an evil evil man

[quote]“fauci” means “fraud” in Italian.

WRONG. You Trolls never stop. Your BS is easily fact checked.

Britannica: Fauci - sickle, one of the most ancient of harvesting tools, consisting of a metal blade, usually curved, attached to a short wooden handle.

Fauci is anything but evil.

R2 This book, you stupid sack of shit.

I think this is why had a weird sense of foreboding the night Reagan won. I was very young, but I sensed dark days ahead without the kind and empathetic Carter in charge.

Those were dark days when Reagan was president. But at least he wasn't a nasty prick calling people names, targeting them personally like Dump.

[quote]Even if Reagan HAD threw billions

Oh, dear . .

Fauci was one of the few people in any government agency who did actual patient care and tried to put what he saw in the field in action during the early days of AIDS.

r19 Oh, dear to YOU.

Among the surprises:

- Everyone thinks he's a liberal but he seems to be more moderate-to-conservative

- Trump would regularly tell Fauci "we love you" before going on stage to rip him up

- Fauci said Jared Kushner actually had a purpose - was kind of the Trump admin's "fix it" guy and addressed controversies or things that the administration missed

- He missed his daughter's wedding because he had COVID

- He's still friends with Peter Staley

- He had pleasant working relationships with Bush Sr and W

Fauci is well known for his sordid breath.

Was this when Jared was getting stuffed from both sides like a crème horn by Saudi princes?

Is Faucibook the Italian version of Facebook?

His first years on AIDS were a mixed back of results and actions EVEN considering all the constraints, and his later successes. That is all. I also think he stayed on the job too long after year 2000.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!

Fauci’s Institute at NIH wasn’t even in charge at the beginning of AIDS because Congress put NCI in charge of “GRID;” Kaposi’s Sarcoma was the most visible opportunist manifestation at the time and there was no proof that the disease was viral in origin, so only the Cancer Institute was allowed to research it. Then the year NIAID was finally allowed to appropriate funds for AIDS Reagan put the kibosh on all funding for new initiatives at NIH.

To this day AIDS/HIV grants have the latest submission dates, fastest turn-around times because of Larry Kramer and Anthony Fauci working together.

He was gorgeous!

It was sobering to learn how much bureaucracy held things back. Especially with COVID. The CDC was definitely not on top of things and every state was doing something different....or just not complying at all.

[quote]The CDC was definitely not on top of things and every state was doing something different....or just not complying at all.

And the Reagans and friends were making jokes.

Once again, the reason everything was not working was because Trump didn't know how to manage a crisis. He knew one thing though, he didn't want to be blamed for it which is why shifted a national crisis to the states to fight over recurrences instead of what a real leader would have done like Obama, Hillary, Biden or even Bush which was man up, grow a pair, take control and manage from the top down. The buck stops here is not a term Donald Dump is familiar with.

I was a research Immunologist during the onset of the AIDS epidemic -- before HIV was isolated and defined. ALL of my colleagues from back then and now who also dealt with Tony "The Weasel" Fauci still say the same things about him, that he was greedy and ultra-ambitious. A homophobe and bigot. You'd submit a grant with your research proposal. He was on the approval committee. Your grant would be denied, and then a year later, someone from his lab would publish work based on the ideas you had proposed. Decades later, he'd worked his way up to head the NIH as a good scientist, but mostly a toady to the GOP by the time COVID hit. He clearly loved the attention. He was steady but was a pussy who should have been more insistent about the need for vaccinations. Zero leadership and all about self-serving PR.

Don't get me started about that Burks chick. She was once respected. She should be shot. No one (in science) respects either of them now. I won't be reading this book. Maybe he has a few valid points, but we are already aware of them.

Sorry for my rant.

Those sound like the rants of jealous bitches r33. They dont seem to be knocking him about the science. And we are not talking about BEFORE the AIDS epidemic. That's what changed him, he was still young, probably just a product of his environment but he was open to change. Just like everyone who "evolved" on gay marriage. Only he did it much quicker. When Act Up got on board and educated him on what a crisis it was. He turned on a dime at that point and had he not, the Regan era government would have let millions more die without mentioning the word AIDS.

Is that him in the OP?

HOT

R13- Larry Kramer LOATHED him for many years.

Being the shallow faggot that I am- he was good looking in that photo ca. 1963.

R34 - did he turn on a dime though? Seems like it was a looong process for him.

Look - I respect the guy and think he did a great job during the COVID crisis and previous decades.

But I remember there was a LOT of beef with Fauci during the AIDS crisis. He eventually was able to turn it around - but he was not this saint everyone wants to make him out to be about AIDS.

And external researchers developed what we have today.

Who did Larry Kramer not loathe?

Kramer was a bitter old queen, R38 is correct.

r8, respectfully, you are alive because you are lucky, and because many of us had to force people in charge like Fauci to allow experimental drugs (including AZT, which was about as effective as Drano and actually killed many of my friends from liver tox) to be tested. Some people need heroes. Fauci is not a hero. Science, data, and coming to terms with reality that saves lives. AZT did carry some people on towards survival until better anti-viral drugs were created. Am extremely happy that you made it and hope you continue to thrive.

R31 I was talking about COVID.

It was much worse during AIDS of course and yes, Reagan or his administration made jokes. They ignored it for years. But I was talking about what Fauci said re the COVID response.

R37 He goes into that in the book pretty extensively too.

Thanks R40. I am not trying to turn Fauci into some god. But he like many others did his job and he did save lives. I just dont like the re-write of history MAGA is doing full force blaming him for COVID calling for him to be arrested. Yes, he had to be pushed at first but he came around pretty quickly and then stepped up to the plate. It was still a time when even the President of the United Stats would not even mention the word AIDS.

I read recently that a lot of young med students credit him and his work during COVID that inspired them to go into med school. So I will leave it at that.

I'm finding the differences of opinions here fascinating.

r34, there is much to dismiss about Tony's "science". Not going to dissect his group's Nature Immunology papers, etc. on Datalounge. I'm here to provide context and historical facts. Am I Jealous of him? No. Am I a bitter old queen with a PhD? Absolutely. Nothing having to do with Fauci. Why are you being his apologist? His book must have been compelling. Nevertheless, I am thrilled that you are engaged in this conversation and that it matters to you.

He and Birx both FAILED standing up to the Trump administration and advocating for public health. Sorry not sorry, it's my opinion.

R33 so much to unpack there.

1) Fauci never became the head of NIH

2) Fauci was the head of NIAID starting in 1984

3) There are no “approval committees” for grant applications at NIH. There are study sections and then, if your score is potentially fundable, council review. I assume you mean study section. Study section is composed of peer reviewers from other academic institutions and a single Scientific Review Officer from NIH who runs the meeting. Are you saying Fauci was an SRO immediately before becoming head of NIAID?

4) Are you sure you aren’t confusing Fauci with Robert Gallo?

[quote]Larry Kramer LOATHED him for many years.

Their relationship was complicated

The word “fauci” means “fraud” in Italian.

[quote]The word “fauci” means “fraud” in Italian.

Trump notwithstanding, repeating a lie doesn't make it true.

R49 means fraud in English.

Dear r47/ElderLez, I stand corrected. As always, you provide a steady voice of reason.

Fauci absolutely wielded enough influence to deny grant submissions and steal ideas, which he did often enough such that it is still a joke among immunologists of a certain age. I actually don't know what his titles and positions were.

There are only a few people still on the planet who could ask "are you sure you're not confusing Fauci with Robert Gallo"? OMFG! Both were/are greedy, expedient assholes, but Gallo wins that contest. While it's tempting to share what my role was back then, not going to go there. Not sure why a modicum of maturity has besieged me.

If memory serves (and it usually does not) I recall that you have something to do with research grants and that you are from Massachusetts and now live on Lawngisland. Hope you are doing well!

R52, I’ll take Italian American researchers protested by ACT UP in the 1980s for $500. They literally sit in the same section of my own brain. And Gallo = no redeeming qualities.

You have a great memory. All is well with me. How are you doing? Are you in California? Or have I got that wrong?

I’m going to guess you made it into gray zone right above the payline quite a bit back in the day. That’s incredibly frustrating. And I suppose if Fauci saw it at Council he could have taken the idea back to his intramural lab. Of course intramural investigators don’t compete for funds. They just are funded.

Right now, I’m digging Dr. Fauci for the exquisite, yet subtle shade he threw on Lauer.

Cunt

r53 @ElderLez

I take two weeks off from the DL and now I am literally choking with laughter at your first sentence. Sorry I did not see your response earlier. There aren't many people left on the planet who could appreciate the brilliance of your Fauci vs. Gallo Jeopardy question and which part of your hippocampus they're in. We could throw Luc Montagnier into the mix - he was relatively close to Italy, but not a major asshole. There's another HIV virologist, closer to home, whom I will not mention. Such drama. I was just a Twink with a 29 inch waist and a healthy liver who could count T-cells back then. During our lovely 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, I was in a P3 lab purifying live HIV at SF General.

Regarding your third sentence, not sure what that means. After Fauci-mediated grant loss in academia, I ended up in Big BioPharma for a good, long run. 401K was fully funded. Career full circle came during global shutdown when I was tasked as an "essential employee" (an upper manager who hadn't done lab bench work for decades) to drive on surreal empty freeways into my surreal empty lab without my younger staff, to develop antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. 42-inch waist, white hair, vodka-infused liver, arthritic everything. And I came home to watch milquetoast Fauci loving himself on the TV news, not being a strong, direct leader under Trump.

Yes, I'm in CA, but the caveat is that I ended up spending a lot of time noth of Bahston with some old dude who now lives with me and no longer shovels snow with his clogged arteries. He stole my California virginity and now we're in a witness protection program in which we drive a Subaru wagon with too many political bumper stickers, pretending to be Vegan Lezbians while shopping for organic produce at the fahmuh's mahkit (his diseased accent is infectious). 2 cats, no children.

Whoa, he was a hottie

Ahhhh in 1989 a was mere dykeling with a 22 inch waist and all of my intestines talking about “drugs into bodies” with no idea that one day I’d be part of the necessary bureaucratic state that powers that engine.

I’m glad you made it into biopharma and a good life, but the fact that you don’t know what I mean in that second paragraph makes me want to travel back in time and slap your mentor.

I missed almost all of the TV appearances working. Maybe that’s for the best. But I feel like I still have Warp Speed PTSD.

That’s interesting about being alone in the lab. We were getting four weeks to the gallon, but for my May 2020 infusion we drove into the city and it took only a half hour which I never thought possible.

I meant your third paragraph, not the second. But please do slap my mentor, anyway.

WTF about your infusions?! And intestines? This is triggering (love that word) as I had colorectal and renal cancer. All good now. > 7 years. Never expected to be a medical worker and then have to be a patient. I totally name dropped. Various department chairs at the hospital where I used to work at saved my ass. Am from a trailer park level trashy family and seized on white male privilege. Wish I could put that in sterile vials and market it to everyone watching the Olympics: "Ask your doctor if WMP is right for you". Side effects may include genital itchiness and extreme guilt.

I hope you are well now and have excellent continuing and/or follow up care. The hamsters spinning in my brain are on fire with speculation.

Still can't stand that people suffer from diseases, some of them preventable, and that people are assholes to each other, including scientists who should know better.

Sorry to hear about your bout with cancer. Even with a good outcome it’s so miserable. I’m glad about the outcome though and that you used your privilege for an excellent cause!

You showed up on DL a couple of years into COVID, right? I feel like most people on DL know that I have Crohn’s and that around the time you were battling cancer I went into septic shock. I spent a long time in the ER. Luckily I survived, avoided the bag, had a successful resection and am now in remission on the miracle drug that is Entyvio.

I’m behind the glass and that’s what I’ll say about that.

Aaah we are kindred class shifters.

Whoa. Am floored on so many levels now. Apologies in advance. Going to be all over the map here and will probably out myself as there are other immunologists who lurk here.

Firstly, sorry to hear that you have Crohn's. Had no idear. Yes, I just used "The Intrusive 'R'," which I call "The Unwelcomed 'R'". Married a Bostonian and this is the only STD I've ever had.

Still have my black ACT UP T-shirt with the pink triangle and "Silence = Death" logo. To say that it no longer fits me would be an understatement.

CRC (colorectal cancer) presents similarly to IBS/IBD/Crohn's, so I'm aware how horrible the symptoms are. My heart goes out to you. Was in fact misdiagnosed and treated for those for a year or two until my shitty (pardon the pun) health plan finally did a CT scan and found what I jokingly at the time called "The Donald" who was an obnoxious pain in the ass but hadn't yet been nominated. It was a growth "the size of a tangerine" to quote my PCP at the time. Did the whole oncology regime. Got a new job with a Big Hard Pfthrobbing Pfarma and got great health coverage, but ironically was now under the care of my former employer who performed their first "Donoldectomy". It's literally in my chart. Was resectioned twice. First, a colostomy bag, then an ileostomy bag. For a year. Told my colorectal oncology surgeon, "Well, at least I don't have Crohn's - there's no treatment for that!".

I do vaguely remember someone here with probable IBD on the verge of sepsis and I bitched at them to go to the ER. It was a male, and not VoTN, whom, if memory serves, also is dealing with Crohn's. Wonder whatever happened to him (not VoTN). I think he was in SoCal. Would have remembered your plight if I'd been here. Hope you are doing well now. Have been Datalounging off and on since the late 1990s when it was Is He/She Gay, Claire's Red Dragon Cheese Bread Pudding, Caneface, yada, yada, yada.

Getting back to HIV/AIDS/FauciGalloLand, in 1993, when I left that depressing mess (this was prior to the advent of the effective triple combo antivirals; I'd been working on immune modulators, which failed), guess what I did? Ding ding ding. Autoimmune diseases! And specifically, cell trafficking inhibitors.

Co-developed a drug for MS, an a4B1-VCAM inhibitor. For 15 years. I also with my bare hands on the bench in the lab (sadly, I don't have a bursting, muscular, hairy chest) developed an antibody that inhibits the interaction of a4B7 on immune cells with MadCAM, a protein that is expressed on endothelial cells that line the gut. It's the drug you're on. Leukocytes can be useful (viral, bacterial, cancer, and other infections) but they can also be asshole bastards (Crohn's, other autoimmune diseases). I don't think the molecule I worked on is the one in the clinic. My company didn't have a patent on that, I guess. I developed assays to detect that our drug for MS did not inhibit gut immunity, but we were well aware that one could help people with Crohn's.

Until your post, I had no idea(r) that an a4B7/MadCAM inhibitor ever became a drug. My guess is that it went to evil Biogen after my company folded and looks like it's now marketed by Takeda. I am literally sitting here, retired from all of the med research politics, posting a tacky autobiography on DL, crying now, which I rarely do: "am now in remission on the miracle drug that is Entyvio". Please be ever vigilant about PML (google it). Don't want to scare you. It's rare but can be lethal.

We tried so hard to develop orally bioavailable drugs (pills) as alternatives to monoclonal antibodies that patients like you have to take as infusions in the clinic. Aside from patient compliance, convenience, and profoundly cheaper manufacturing costs, should side effects occur, you could just stop taking the pills. But antibodies stick around for weeks. I actually worked on a process to remove such antibodies from patients. It was valiant lab effort but failed. And a lot of monkeys died. Meanwhile, I'm profoundly happy to hear that science has helped someone.

Toldja I'd be all over the map. Didn't expect my day to turn out this way and am sometimes surprised about what I find about others -- including myself. ElderLez, thank you for being here and am sending cyberhugs from one of the places that Fox "news" loves to hate.

wishing all on DL a full and fast recovery!

Any health tips welcomed...

for example, I've often heard---never to eat deli meat.

This thread took a very fascinating turn

OMG - I worked in Neuro-AIDS research until 1997 and the risk of PML was the reason I refused to go on steroids, Remicade or Humira.

I try very hard to suppress my intrusive “R.” It’s only in partial remission

Two resections and two bags. That’s hardcore. I missed the bag by two hours. I was scheduled for a 6 AM emergency resection with bag after 2 days in the ER failing to get my vitals under control and then *poof* at 4 AM all my vitals returned to normal and I was just a big ball of fluid overload and IV steroids. And the not emergency, but not optional resection a month later went smoothly.

Did you replace/do you know the British at Pfarma?

Whoa. That means you've been dealing with Crohn's since 1997?! You were wicked smaht to not do severe, non-specific immunosuppressants at the time.

Treatment for ass cancer/diverticulosis/IBD/whatever the diagnosis of the week was, was an out of body experience. My other personality dealt with that and obeyed whatever the med team told me to do. The pain was excruciating because The Donald became fused with other organs and was pushing on my prostate. Women talk about whatever hormones or neuronal rearrangements occur following childbirth so that they can do it again and perpetuate our species. I had that. But have done nothing to contribute to our species. All I can remember is having to be naked in front of strangers, a world-class medical team, kind neighbors, and my three normally outside puuring cats who stayed with me in bed all day for a year and a half. During (successful) recovery from reattachment surgery in hospital, Trump was shockingly elected. My beloved, brilliant female surgeon of color and her team agreed to send me home with a big bottle of benzos in addition to the usual opiates. We were no longer joking about Donaldectomies. That shit got real.

Kidney tumor treatment was 5 years ago, but then I had a relapse during COVID, perhaps around the time you ended up in the ER with sepsis. Wasn't lurking on the DL much, but maybe.

Going to bring my post back to Fauci (aka "Tony The Weasel") now. But make no mistake -- this is still all about ME.

When we lost our grant (was it an RO1, an RO5? Memory sucks) I went into biotech where I was tasked with doing neuroimmunology. Thanks, Tony. The stock options were fabulous and brought me the fake leather chair from which I am typing fat now. Cats shredded it years ago and they all went on to visit Dr. Katvorkian.

Purified T-cells, macrophages, and brain microglia. Another resulting drug I worked on (as did a hundred other scientists) is now on the market for Alzheimer's. It doesn't work and could potentially bankrupt the Medicare system. Before leaving academia, I was studying how immune cells act as reservoirs for harboring HIV in the brain. All that work led to nothing but someone had to do it. Spent my entire adult life purifying immune cells and lurking on Datalonge.

ElderLez, were you a lab scientist? Epidemiologist? Grant reviewer? So happy that an a4B7/MadCAM inhibitor is working for you!

I was a lowly study coordinator until 1997. (also the year I was introduced to DL.

Crohn’s symptoms since my teenage years in the 1980s, but not diagnosed until my late 30s. (Ironic under the circumstances) My terminal ileum was already fibrotic and shredded at that point and would regularly block, but it took another decade for it to start perforating despite my unwillingness to take effective medication because of the PML risk.

Aduhelm is such BS. It makes me angry.

Ouch. I think you made the right choice, given the times.

Re: ADuhelm: Yup. We made the cover of Nature. It went to Lilly or Biogen after my employer went under. I was a major accomplice to this BS in terms of lab science. But not my decision to push it to humans 30 years later. Did what I was told to do in the lab. We cured "senile" mice. Still have colleagues on FB, Linkedin, and maybe even here(!) who still hold onto the absolute beta amyloid theory for AD.

Even as a "lowly study coordinator" you sure have keen scientific awareness.

Happy International cat day to you and your kitties.

How is your husband doing?

FWIW Biogen is going to lose the right to sell Aduhelm in the US next Spring.

R28 Thanks, ElderLez for all your insights in this thread. I was an immunologist in academia for 45 years. You may know that during the late 1980s and well into the 1990s, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease that Fauci was the head of, had two different funding paylines for grant proposals: one for HIV/AIDS proposals, and another for all the rest. The payline for HIV applications was approximately twice the payline for other applications, e.g, 44th vs 22nd percentile, respectively. I had a number of non-HIV grant applications that were not funded, but which would have been funded had they been HIV grants.

For any non-scientists still reading this, it means that Fauci pushed VERY hard to get more HIV research, including enticing non-HIV immunologists with outstanding ideas to work on HIV research by making it more likely they would get funded.

In my 45 years, I knew of no other situation in which essentially the ENTIRETY of NIAID outside funding was subject to two different paylines. That’s how important Fauci thought HIV research was. And yes, even way back then he took some heat for it. But he wasn’t fired, and he didn’t quit.

Thank you R70

For any non-researchers on this thread who aren’t interested in the nuts and bolts, feel free to TL;DR the following

44 is an insanely high payline, almost at the dreaded triaged/not recommended for further consideration/not discussed level. Even during the NIH doubling years of 1998 -2003 the average payline was only about 30 and as a result, automatic just-in-time requests go out for all requests that score under 30 even though the payline for some Institutes this year is 9. (Paylines change from year to year and vary a little between institutes because they are based upon how much money that Institute got from Congress that year, how many applications were received and how the Institute plans to allocate its funds - fellowships are cheap, centers of excellence are not.)

I know from personal experience that AIDS grant applications that are assigned to institutes other than NIAID and fall into the gray zone will often get a monetary assist from NIAID when they go to council. (NIAID is a secondary assignment for all AIDS applications.) What is the gray zone? Let’s say an Institute has the money to fund one quarter of applications (up to 25) they might set the payline at 20 and put 21-30 in the gray zone. Why do they do that? Generally they do that to ensure funding balance between organ systems, diseases and basic vs. clinical research in their portfolios.

ElderLez, thank you. Husband is busy breathing into his CPAP. Full into retirement now, he sleeps >9 hours a night, then wakes up, does aerobics for seniors, then a meditation before WORDLE, then makes a light, healthful breakfast. He's 100% Californian now -- except when he speaks. I'm 4 years younger, recently retired, but still wake up in full fight or flight mode after 5 hours, lol.

I was only in academia until age 30. My "mentor"/PI completely shielded me from the grant app process. Have never even heard about "paylines, gray zones, or Council" until now. I did learn a bit about venture capitalism in my ensuing biopharma years, which is rather disgusting. Rode out the cycles, waves, and accounting scandals until retirement. Did not work directly for it, but Biogen IMHO, is a creepy company.

r70, sending a cliche... for 45 years as an immunologist in academia, I say "thank you for your service". Have probably at least read some papers that came out of your lab. Hope you have a good pension.

Not to wish my life away, but jealous of both of your retired statuses.

R70 were you mostly at one place? Soft money? (Feel free to not answer if that is too personal.)

R72 Thanks for your kind words. It was a very demanding and stressful career, so I’m glad it’s over. Forty of those years were at one soft-money institution that had very good benefits, at least for those of us who started long ago.

R73 Wow, you posted while I was replying to R72.

Regarding 22nd percentile payline in 1990s, that’s now unbelievable given that NIAID’s payline has hovered around the 10th percentile for about 20 years. A whole generation of scientists lost.

The outcome may be even worse than COVID when (not if) the next infectious disease pandemic occurs, particularly with another weakly immunogenic microbe like the COVID virus.

Therapeutic RNA research started at least as far back as the 1990s and to my knowledge failed to bring a product to market until the 2021 COVID pandemic. Thirty years is so far beyond any politician’s timeframe and current taxpayer patience that I’m glad to be an eldergay.

This thread is precisely why I adore Datalounge—you never know what gems you'll stumble upon. When the conversation is led by such brilliant minds, I find myself absorbing every word, even if it goes over my head. I routinely bypass the "let's be ____" threads and live for discussions like this one.

To all the scientists and medical professionals who guided us through the HIV/AIDS crisis, you are our unsung heroes. My deepest gratitude for your invaluable service.

Dr. Robert Gallo is a pompous ass. He always has been, but he is smart.

Fauci is just as smart, but nicer.

r76, ElderLez is the source of brilliance, wisdom, and intellect here. Not sure if you were including me, but just an FYI, I'm as shallow as a river in Palm Springs. I would totally post something like "Let's pretend we're a couch in Appalachia". I giggle when people burp. When things don't go my way (almost always), I screech like a Japanese schoolgirl who just lost her favorite pink Hello Kitty purse on an Osaka subway car.

@ElderLez, the only thing that matters in retirement is having healthcare insurance. Once you secure it, walk away. They'll give you a nice cake, then forget about anything you've ever done. And you'll have zero regrets after a few weeks. My husband clips coupons and looks online at trailers for us to live in. He calls them "mahdulah homes". After the initial financial terror, it's bliss. You can post on DL or not, then take walks and say "hi" to your stressed-out neighbors.

R78 Absolutely, my thanks extend to all health professionals who fought through the AIDS crisis. Your dedication, whether on the front lines or behind the scenes, during that plague is deeply appreciated.

Ha! You are too kind R78. I’m wicked smart and occasionally witty, but I work with actually brilliant people so I know I am not that. I appear smarter than I am only because of I’ve submitted thousands of applications to the NIH. But I could never come up with a new medication or component of a new medication myself like you did and I certainly would never have survived forty years of soft money like R74 did.

Health insurance is the sticky wicket for sure especially with my expensive meds.

R75 I think the issue with the young’uns is partially fixed with the separate ESI only panels now, but the the worst period was when Thousand Talents most active. But does Congress blame itself for the loss of talent to China? Or is there any soul searching around how yearly continuing continuations warp scientific progress and waste resources cutting and restoring budgets? This year the House cut all the funding for the Brain Initiative (Alzheimer’s) and Cancer Moonshot as a gotcha to Biden. Arlen Spector must be rolling over in his grave with how the GOP has become a death cult.

R78 something for you to read.