http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/meet-anthony-fauci-epidemic-expert-trying-shape-white-house-s-coronavirus-response

“Tony, do you want to come up?” When President Donald Trump called Anthony Fauci to the microphone yesterday while declaring a national emergency because of the viral pandemic, it may have been the first time many Americans had met the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). But the veteran HIV/AIDS researcher, who has been involved with every epidemic over the past 40 years—and has even treated Ebola patients--is a familiar face to scientists, health officials and politicians, having led NIAID for decades and advised presidents all the way back to Ronald Reagan. Articulate, candid and Brooklyn to his core, he has become a rational voice of science and a public figure—see his appearance on Comedy Central with Stephen Colbert, in 2011.

Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, Fauci has gained new prominence amidst questions about  whether the current White House has listened enough to scientists, and Fauci in particular, as it has struggled to respond. Reports that he had been stifled by the administration and had to clear all his comments with superiors helped spark widespread condemnation of the muzzling of scientists. Yet Fauci has become increasingly visible as the U.S. outbreak progresses, recently telling Congress that the country’s efforts to test people for coronavirus have been “failing”.