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Anthony Fauci, MD, will step down in December from his positions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as President Biden's chief medical advisor, and as chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation.

Fauci, the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been at the helm of NIAID for nearly four decades and has served under seven presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan.

He insists, however, that he is not retiring, according to a .

"After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field," Fauci said in the statement. "I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats."

he would fill his time with traveling, writing, and encouraging young people to pursue government careers.

In a statement, President Biden thanked Fauci for his service and called him a "dedicated public servant," noting that in addition to COVID-19, they had previously worked closely together on the U.S. response to Zika and Ebola.

"His commitment to the work is unwavering, and he does it with an unparalleled spirit, energy, and scientific integrity," Biden said in the statement.

Fauci joined the NIH in 1968 -- more than a half-century ago -- and became NIAID director in 1984, during a critical time in the country's AIDS epidemic. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 under President George W. Bush.

He became the face of the U.S. COVID-19 response, trusted by the scientific community for information about the virus, particularly in the early days of the pandemic when information was frequently obfuscated by the Trump administration. At the same time, his role turned him into a political lightning rod, with attacks and threats that required a substantial security detail. One man pled guilty to making death threats against Fauci.

In June, Fauci tested positive for COVID-19, and experienced a rebound of the virus after recovering.

The COVID-19 pandemic was not Fauci’s only brush with controversy. During the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s, critics felt the NIH and government researchers were moving too slow.

Fauci tried to be a bridge between the activist and research communities, and according to a National Geographic documentary on Fauci that premiered last fall, the relationship peaked at the International AIDS Conference in June 1990 in San Francisco, when conference organizers allowed activists to speak directly to researchers.

Fauci delivered a speech that bridged the two worlds and received a standing ovation from the entire audience at the end.

"That speech changed everything," Fauci said in the documentary. "We were able to redesign clinical trials for people with HIV, with Black, Brown, and pregnant women included."

Fauci also that among his proudest accomplishments was his work on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was developed during the George W. Bush administration.

But his public health career almost never happened, according to the documentary. When he was called into the Public Health Service during the Vietnam War, he planned to do his time then "go back to New York and be the chief resident at a New York hospital" because it was, at the time, "your ticket to a private practice on Park Avenue."

But the more he learned about himself, the more he realized that public service was indeed his calling -- and there may not have been a more consequential career decision in the history of public health.

, Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, the acting director at the NIH, called Fauci "the model public servant -- dedicated and selfless, and a brilliant scientist and physician who is passionate about developing treatments and cures for those who are sick and suffering."

"For Tony, it's personal," Tabak said in the statement. "He works tirelessly on behalf of all patients, often at great personal expense, and always bringing his Brooklyn tenacity to the fight."

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said he will be "sorry to see Dr. Fauci depart in December."

"This is a decision we all knew would eventually come but hoped never would," he said in a statement. "As HHS Secretary, I am privileged to know Dr. Fauci professionally and personally and deeply admire his decades of public service that have undoubtedly improved the health of millions of people globally."

Fauci, who will turn 82 on December 24, said in the National Geographic documentary that he looks at the two most devastating health crises in the last 100 years -- HIV/AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic -- as "sort of like bookends on my career and my life."

"It has been the honor of a lifetime to have led the NIAID, an extraordinary institution, for so many years and through so many scientific and public health challenges," Fauci said in his statement. "I am very proud of our many accomplishments. I have worked with -- and learned from -- countless talented and dedicated people in my own laboratory, at NIAID, at NIH and beyond. To them I express my abiding respect and gratitude."

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