Anthony Fauci and the Culture of Dishonesty at the NIH

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Contact: Henry Herrera

Telephone: +1-301-801-0608

Anthony Fauci and the Culture of Dishonesty at the NIH

August 3, 2026 — This past week, Americans were appalled to learn of the widespread falsehoods disseminated by Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

In particular, Fauci dishonestly claimed that (1):

The COVID virus originated from natural sources, not a lab leak in Hunan, China.
“The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology” – a claim contradicted by statements from other NIH officials.
There was “no reason to be walking around with a mask,” as Fauci admitted on 60 Minutes, even though he had previously been a persistent advocate for universal masking.

Fauci’s falsehoods harmed the more than 50 million children in the United States who experienced school closures due to COVID-19 policies, resulting in severe learning loss and chronic absenteeism (2).

But Anthony Fauci was not the first high-level person at the National Institutes of Health to engage in a campaign of disinformation. For years, NIH leaders have been spreading the claim that women were “excluded” and “under-represented” from medical research:

Ruth Kirschstein, MD (first woman to lead a major NIH institute): Co-chaired a Task Force that highlighted an alleged “dearth of women enrolled in clinical trials” (3). Kirschstein also made the claim that the signal Framingham Heart Study included only men. (In fact, the Framingham study, first launched in 1948, was 55% female and 45% male (4)).
Bernadine Healy, MD (NIH Director, 1991–1993): Deplored what she called the “decades of sex-exclusive research.” (5)
Janine Austin Clayton, MD (current Director of the Office of Research for Women’s Health): Claimed, “We know less about female biology and we are struggling to catch up.” (6)
Vivian Pinn, MD (first full-time Director of ORWH, 1991–2011): Dramatically insisted, “The exclusion of some women in clinical research may sometimes be valid, but not all the women all the time.” (7)

These assertions lack essential details about the extent the exclusion, the affected diseases, and the relevant time period. And for good reason — they have no basis in reality:

A detailed analysis of studies conducted as early as the 1960s concluded, “Women have participated in medical research in numbers at least proportionate to the overall female population.” (8)
In 1994, Judith LaRosa of the NIH Office of Research on Women Health affirmed, “Little, if any, evidence is available that suggests that women have been systematically excluded from biomedical research.” (9)
A recent analysis concluded, “Between 1995 and 2025, the average annual distribution of NIH-funded research enrollments was 58% female, 40% male, and 2% unknown sex.” (10)

Women’s health researchers have profited handsomely from the falsehood of female exclusion. Women’s health has enjoyed dedicated funding that is more than twice as much as men’s health: 14% vs. 6% of the total NIH budget (11).

As a result, men are dying five years sooner than women, and we still don’t have the essential medical knowledge necessary to overcome the lifespan gender gap.science.org

SAVE – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – is a 501(c)3 organization working to assure fairness and equal opportunities for men. SAVE welcomes financial contributions: https://www.saveservices.org/donate/

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