(air whooshes)
- Warm greetings to you all from Bethesda, Maryland.
My name is Tony Fauci, and I'm the director
of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
at the national institutes of health.
My other day job, there are no nights anymore,
is as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
I am wearing both hats today
and although I am unable to be with you in person,
I am delighted to have this opportunity
to address the class of 2020
of the Weill Cornell Medical College.
I also want to welcome all who are joining the celebration.
Administrators, faculty and staff,
and your family and friends.
I feel honored and enthusiastic
to offer encouragement and gratitude
to this particular class of graduates.
The world, as we knew it, has recently been totally up ended
by an unprecedented global pandemic,
a truly historic event
that has unsettled every aspect of our lives,
including your graduation.
I know that celebrating your accomplishment
in this disconnected way,
without the in person support of friends, teachers,
and fellow students,
must feel disheartening, to say the least.
However, looked at another way,
the International Medical Community
the people rising daily to meet this challenge
and as new minted graduates of Cornell,
you will be leaders in this effort.
Now, more than ever, we need your talent, your energy,
your resolve, and your character.
Some of you will be the physicians
and or healthcare providers
caring for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Others of you will be the biomedical researchers,
elucidating how SARS-Coronavirus-2 causes disease
or you will be developing medical solutions,
diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.
With the outstanding medical training
you have had at Weill Cornell,
I am certain that some of you will be innovators,
collaborators, and leaders in the struggle.
However, directly or indirectly, it is inevitable
that all of you will experience, in some way,
the extraordinary impact of this pandemic
on your newly emerging medical careers,
regardless of the direction you take.
I had the great fortune
to receive my MD from Cornell University Medical College
in 1966.
Although I did not fully appreciate it at the time,
the path I took after graduating medical school,
including my internship residency
and chief residency in internal medicine
at the New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center,
and my Infectious Disease training at NIH,
prepared me well for the unexpected events
that have shaped my career.
HIV/AIDS, Pandemic Influenza, Ebola, Zika,
and now the novel coronavirus.
In this regard, I often advise students
to be open to opportunities
that unexpectedly present themselves.
I remember clearly when I was at NIH in the early 1980s
that the recognition of a new virus, later named HIV,
caused me to make an abrupt turn in my own career.
Only decades later,
could I adequately reflect on how enormous an impact
that virus has had on the global community.
We are currently in a similar period of uncertainty.
We have no clear idea
of how this COVID-19 pandemic will further evolve
or what it's ultimate impact will be.
Will we have a second wave
similar to the second wave of the catastrophic
influenza pandemic of 1918?
If so, will we be prepared to adequately respond?
Regardless of your future medical specialty
or area of focus,
we, as a medical and public health community
must face this pandemic together.
All of us will be doing our part to overcome this challenge,
not only as medical professionals,
but as individuals, as members of families,
and as connected participants in society.
A staggering number of lives
have been lost in just a few months.
The healthcare systems
in certain cities and regions of our country
have come perilously close to being overrun.
And our return to some form of normality
will be neither fast nor easy.
We will get through this, however,
and undoubtedly you will be in the Vanguard
showing us how.
Drawing on your dedication to excellence,
exceptional patient care,
and collaborative research and discovery
that were the pillars of your medical education at Cornell.
And so, my colleagues
in the Weill Cornell Medical College class of 2020,
congratulations, stay safe and do good work.
I look forward to the many contributions
you will make to medical science and patient care
in decades to come
and in so many areas that ultimately will transcend
the current challenge of COVID-19.
(air whooshes)