Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to 2022. As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci has served the American public health sector in various capacities for more than fifty years and has acted as an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. He has been director of the NIAID since 1984 and has made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases, both as a research scientist and as the head of the NIAID. From 1983 to 2002, Fauci was one of the world's most frequently cited scientists across all scientific journals. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on the AIDS relief program PEPFAR. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served under President Donald Trump as one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Fauci's advice was frequently contradicted by Trump, and Trump's supporters alleged that Fauci was trying to politically undermine Trump's run for reelection. After Joe Biden took office, Fauci began serving as one of the lead members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team and as Biden's chief medical advisor. On August 22, 2022, Fauci announced that he would step down from government service in December. Fauci stepped down on December 31. Early life and education Anthony Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Eugenia Lillian (née Abys; 1909–1965) and Stephen A. Fauci (1910–2008) and is the youngest of two children born to both parents. His father was a Columbia University-educated pharmacist who owned his pharmacy. Fauci's mother and sister worked the pharmacy's register, and Fauci delivered prescriptions and also worked the register. Fauci's mother also worked at a dry cleaner. The pharmacy was located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, directly beneath the family apartment, previously in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. When he was a child, Fauci developed a fascination with World War II, and played basketball and baseball during his spare time. Fauci's grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy in the late 19th century. His paternal grandparents, Antonino Fauci and Calogera Guardino, were