Fauci Has 51 Years of Federal Service
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been a federal employee for a long time. He was the federal employee of the year in 2020. He is now 81 years old and has, more or less, about 51 years of working for the federal government.
Dr. Fauci first joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1966, as part of an intramural research program. In 1970, he left to serve as Chief Resident at the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. In 1971, he returned to NIH as Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation. In 1984, Fauci was named director of the NIAID, a position he still holds today.
It appears he may be leaving the federal government, and an Associated Press article also implies that is the case. In an announcement issued on August 22nd, he said in a press release, “I will be leaving these positions in December of this year to pursue the next chapter of my career.” There has not been any specific announcement on what the “next phase of his career will be” but it seems he will be retiring from the federal government.
He will be leaving his job as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and as President Biden’s chief medical adviser in December. He is also going to continue working in some capacity. His statement said:
I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field. I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats.
Fauci was appointed Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984. He oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.
Largest Federal Retirement Package in History
While he intends to pursue working in his field in another capacity, the decision to leave government service will be voluntary as he appears to be financially independent and will receive a large federal retirement annuity.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is considered the nation’s top infectious disease expert and chief medical advisor to the president. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he is the highest-paid public servant in the country. His salary was $434,312 in 2020 and $456,028 in 2021. Dr. Fauci outearned the president, four-star generals, and all 4.3 million of his colleagues.
That is unusual as he makes more than President Biden whose salary is $400,000. His wife is also a federal employee as the Chief of Bioethics at NIH with an annual salary of $234,284.
During the Trump administration, Dr. Fauci became one of the best-known federal employees because of his frequent appearances on TV and in print as an expert on COVID. Between January 1, 2020, and June 15, 2021, he appeared in 354 television, radio, podcast, and online interviews, including lectures, panel discussions, speeches, and press conferences.
Earlier this year, his retirement pay was estimated to be more than $355,000–the largest federal retirement pension in history. As with other federal retirees, his pension and benefits would continue to increase through annual cost-of-living adjustments. Fauci has 55 years of service as a federal employee.
Total Net Worth: $10+ Million
As noted in FedSmith earlier this year, Dr. Fauci’s total net worth at that time was in excess of $10 million. Obviously, for anyone investing in the TSP or otherwise in the stock market, the value of stocks in most portfolios has dropped significantly in 2022.
According to the financial records that were released, Dr. Fauci had a contributory IRA with $638,519.70, and a brokerage trust account with $2,403,522.28. The financial records were released by Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS).
His financial accounts are with Charles Schwab. The largest was “Schwab One Trust” which had $5,295,898.92.
His three accounts had a total of $8,337,940.90. His wife had two accounts – an IRA, with $120,277.82, and a Schwab One Trust with $1,962,819.27 for a total of $2,083,097.09.
The total amounts for both people are $10.4 million.
Surprisingly, there is not any information in the records on a Thrift Savings Plan account which often accounts for a significant amount of the total net worth of any federal employee.
The financial records were released after a public dispute with Senator Marshall in a Senate hearing. The two men verbally sparred, culminating with Fauci stating, “what a moron,” referring to the Senator who is also a medical doctor. The insult was said quietly but was made near an open microphone.
The Senator noted his staff then spent a few weeks tracking down the financial information. In a press release, Marshall stated that Dr. Fauci produced these previously unpublished documents.
Political Controversy After COVID-19
No one knows, of course, what factors go into a person deciding to retire at a particular time. Fauci obviously has a healthy net worth and a very good retirement package and is free to retire at any time.
After becoming a well-known public figure under the Trump administration, and a favorite of the Biden administration, Dr. Fauci has encountered political opposition and controversy. It would not be surprising that a desire to leave behind the political controversy and public hearings would be a factor as he is free to retire on his own terms.
Senator Rand Paul recently restated his intention to investigate aspects of his work in the federal government if Republicans win back the Senate this fall.
Paul stated recently, “One way or another, if we are in the majority, we will subpoena his records and he will testify in the Senate under oath.”
Paul contends COVID-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, and that National Institutes of Health-funded “gain of function” research — the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world — and that this research was partly to blame for COVID-19.
Paul said in response to Fauci leaving his position at NIH, “Fauci announcing his resignation today doesn’t change anything. The American people deserve to know whether any NIH employees have a self interest in approving a vaccine or any drug, and I will continue to push for full transparency.”
He also told Fox News that Fauci’s resignation would not prevent a “full-throated investigation into the origins of the [COVID-19] pandemic” and added, “He [Fauci] will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak.”
Whether Fauci’s retirement from the federal government would still be a factor in subsequent investigations after the mid-term elections remains to be seen.
Summary
Dr. Fauci has had a long and successful federal career. Until he became one of the best-known spokesmen for a presidential administration on COVID, he had been a successful career federal employee but was not that well-known to the public. That lack of celebrity vanished as he appeared with and advised former President Trump and was often seen on TV and in the news after that.
Presumably, we have not heard the last of him as he intends to “pursue the next chapter of his career.”
