Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award

The Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award celebrates individuals who inspire and encourage others to make a difference. It is awarded to a person who has demonstrated courage in leadership and a commitment to promoting scientific integrity, advocating for sound science and advancing the field of infectious diseases at their institutions or in their local, national or global communities.

This award can be granted to both members and nonmembers, and nominations are encouraged across national and international communities.

As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, Anthony Fauci, MD, oversaw an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research that was used to prevent, diagnose and treat established infectious diseases. This award is given in recognition of the values and attributes that Dr. Fauci has exhibited throughout his career, including courage in leadership in speaking scientific truth, perseverance in the face of opposition, and serving as a change agent for health care and patients around the world.

2026 Anthony Fauci Leadership Awardee
Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, FIDSA

Throughout his distinguished career, globally renowned epidemiologist Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, FIDSA, has exemplified scientific excellence and extraordinary courage — the courage to challenge systems when they fail and to prioritize truth over comfort, regardless of consequence.

Dr. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a leading expert in public health preparedness, emerging infectious diseases and biosecurity. In early 2025, Dr. Osterholm and colleagues founded the Vaccine Integrity Project, dedicated to safeguarding vaccine use in the U.S. He challenged his team to ask hard questions, follow the evidence and communicate conclusions to other stakeholders and the public with clarity and integrity. Through this platform, Dr. Osterholm brought together voices across divides to focus on science and evidence. The findings of their systematic review of COVID-19, RSV and influenza vaccines, which supported the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in October 2025. The VIP has conducted more recent reviews of Tdap vaccine in pregnancy, HPV vaccine, and hepatitis B vaccine at birth and the 2026-2027 respiratory season vaccines. 

A prominent advisor on global health, Dr. Osterholm holds several titles at the University of Minnesota: Regents Professor; McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health; Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health; professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering; and adjunct professor in the Medical School.

Dr. Osterholm has been appointed to roles in every presidential Administration from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden. In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-Elect Biden’s Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and became one of the nation’s most trusted voices, communicating uncertainty without minimizing risk.

In 2005, he was appointed to the newly established National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. Dr. Osterholm chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Pandemics from 2008 to 2011. From 1975 through 1999, Dr. Osterholm held various roles at the Minnesota Department of Health, including serving as state epidemiologist for 15 years. He has led numerous investigations of international importance including foodborne diseases, the association of tampons and toxic shock syndrome, and hepatitis B and HIV in health care settings.

Dr. Osterholm was the principal investigator and director of the National Institutes of Health-supported Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (2007-2014) and chaired the Executive Committee of the Centers of Excellence Influenza Research and Surveillance network. He was recently named to TIME’s 2026 TIME100 health list of the world’s 100 most influential leaders in health.

Dr. Osterholm is the author of over 420 papers and two New York Times best sellers, Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe, published in 2000, and Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, published in 2017 with co-author Mark Olshaker. Dr. Osterholm and Olshaker also authored the 2025 award-winning The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics.

For his extensive and fearless work in shaping modern applied epidemiology and his impactful responses to global threats, IDSA is pleased to recognize Dr. Osterholm with the 2026 Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award.