Dr. Anthony Fauci announced Monday he would step down from his government positions in December.
Fauci is currently the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.
“I will be leaving these positions in December of this year to pursue the next chapter of my career,” Fauci revealed in a statement.
Fauci’s decision significantly moves up the timeline of his retirement, as he said in July he would resign at the end of Biden’s first term.
Fauci called his decades of public service an “honor of a lifetime.”
“I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration,” he said in his statement.
Fauci’s announcement also coincides with Republicans vowing to investigate his work should they take power in November.
“The top investigation — which I think will primarily be done on the Oversight Committee — is on Fauci and the gain of function and the lab leak, which is the most likely scenario how we got this virus,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told Breitbart News in a December interview.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) also vowed to investigate Fauci if Republicans take the Senate majority.
“If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of [Fauci’s] records,” Paul said in February.
Fauci noted in his statement that he had served seven different presidents throughout his career in government health.
“Thanks to the power of science and investments in research and innovation, the world has been able to fight deadly diseases and help save lives around the globe,” he wrote. “I am proud to have been part of this important work and look forward to helping to continue to do so in the future.”
Biden praised Fauci in a statement reacting to the news of his planned retirement.
“Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work,” he said. “I extend my deepest thanks for his public service.”
