Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.' top infectious diseases expert, was awarded the prestigious $1 million Dan David Prize Tuesday.
The Israeli award was also given to six other researchers that shared two $1 million prizes.
The Dan David Prize is an award affiliated with Tel Aviv University. The award is given to people that had made significant contributions to advance society. According to the awards committee, Fauci was given the award for "speaking truth to power" and his colorful career in public health.
"As the COVID-19 pandemic unraveled, (Fauci) leveraged his considerable communication skills to address people gripped by fear and anxiety and worked relentlessly to inform individuals in the United States and elsewhere about the public health measures essential for containing the pandemic's spread," the awards committee said.
Fauci has had a long career in public health, serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more than 36 years.
During his long career, Fauci has advised seven different presidents on domestic and global health issues. He was also instrumental in the development of treatments for HIV, which allowed carriers of the virus to live longer lives. In 2013, Fauci helped the George W. Bush administration launch an AIDS Relief plan, which had saved millions of lives around the world.
During the Trump administration, Fauci quickly became a household name after becoming the face of the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Fauci faced a lot of challenges over the past year as former president Donald Trump continued to downplay the effects of the virus. At one point, Trump called Fauci and his team "idiots" and threatened to remove him from his post.
As part of the award, 10% of the prize money will need to be allocated towards academic scholarships in the winner's field of study. Fauci has yet to decide where and how the scholarships will be distributed.
The Dan David Prize was established by the late Italian philanthropist Dan David. The three awards given out this year focused on health and medicine. The other people that were given awards were Alison Bashford, Keith Wailoo, Zelig Eshhar, Carl June, and Steven Rosenberg.
