ATLANTA (AP) - In a sign of the times, the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease will appear by livestream when he addresses graduating Emory University students this year.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is set to deliver the May 16 commencement address for the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, the school said Wednesday in a press release. Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, his address will be delivered live from Washington and will be available virtually to the university community and graduates.
“I cannot think of a more inspiring person than Dr. Fauci to address the Class of 2021, whose Emory experience has been so dramatically shaped by the pandemic, and whose resilience and determination have inspired us again and again,” Emory President Gregory L. Fenves said in the release.
Fauci has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health since 1984 and has advised seven presidents. He has gained widespread public recognition for public briefings and news media appearances on COVID-19.
Fauci is also set to receive the Emory University President’s Medal, which is given to “distinguished university guests whose impact on the world has enhanced the prospect of peace or enriched cultural achievement,” the release says. He previously received an Emory honorary doctor of science degree in 2003. Those are the two highest honors awarded by Emory, and Fauci is only the sixth person to receive both, the release says.
“Emory’s motto, ‘the wise heart seeks knowledge,’ is exemplified by Dr. Fauci’s many decades of public service,” Fenves said. “Indeed, it is his wise heart, and the knowledge he has provided, that have helped us get through a year like no other.”
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