Anthony S. Fauci,MD AFCR President,1980–1981

In the spring of 1969, at the insistence of my boss and mentor at the time, Sheldon M. Wolff, I along with my fellow clinical associates from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, drove several hours to Atlantic City to attend the American Federation for Clinical Research (AFCR) meeting for the first time. We were physicians from across the country, fresh out of medical residency training and recently arrived at the NIH to pursue training and perhaps even a career in clinical research. In his wisdom, Dr. Wolff knew that attending the “clinical meetings”—joint gatherings of the AFCR (also known as “the young squirts”), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (aka “the young Turks”), and the Association of American Physicians (“the old Turks”)—would be critical to the maturation of my career in medical research. The meetings would enable me not only to learn about leading-edge clinical science from the best, but also to cultivate relationships with a network of colleagues and in time present my own data and perhaps contribute to advancing the field of clinical medicine. Thus, in Chalfonte-Haddon Hall, the stately boardwalk hotel where the AFCR conference took place each year, I was introduced to the inspiring world of academic clinical medicine.

What I remember most about those early AFCR meetings was the excitement of being in the same room with—and if I was lucky enough, talking to—my heroes in medicine. What a thrill to present an abstract at the meeting and to know that the legends at the time, such as Paul Beeson, Eugene Braunwald, Kurt Isselbacher, Lloyd (Holly) Smith, James Wyngaarden or Donald Seldin, among many others, were in the audience listening to my presentation. Afterwards they might even approach me to ask a question, congratulate me, or even give me a nod of recognition as I passed them on the boardwalk of Atlantic City.

When I think about the decades-long duration of my career, embedded in my memory are those early experiences. To me, those memories signify the importance of the AFCR—Atlantic City in the 1970s, becoming first a student of, then a colleague, and in many cases, personal friends with some of the luminaries in medicine at that time. The early AFCR meetings were exhilarating and extraordinarily rewarding occasions, both personally and professionally. I later was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to serve as President of the AFCR from 1980–81. I am extremely grateful for the significant positive influence the AFCR provided in helping me to establish the groundwork of a fulfilling career in medical research and public health.