On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service
by Anthony Fauci
View on GoodreadsAnthony Fauci's memoir spanning his entire NIAID directorship from 1984 through 2022 — HIV/AIDS, anthrax, SARS, Ebola, Zika, and COVID — written after the polarization of the COVID years had defined his public role.
Core ideas
- The HIV/AIDS chapter is the book's emotional spine — Fauci's evolution from clinical immunologist to ACT UP-engaged collaborator is presented as the formative experience that shaped how he later handled COVID.
- The COVID period is the most contested and the most carefully written — Fauci's account of the gain-of-function debate, the lab-leak question, the masking and school-closure positions, is detailed but lawyerly.
- The longer view is the book's claim: across decades, Fauci's job has been the same — translating evolving science into public-health decisions under political pressure, with the cost of being wrong borne by both citizens and his own credibility.
Published2024
Pages464
ISBN9780593657478
ReadDec 2024
