The National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the US government’s Department of Health and Human Services.  is the foremost biomedical research agency in the United States that funds and conducts research to improve public health and longevity, fight and cure infectious diseases, and create systems of care. Fauci’s memoir centers around his tenure at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the research centers of the NIH. The NIH is essential in driving forward scientific progress and shaping public health policies.

The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The two acronyms are used sometimes interchangeably in non-specialized literature. Fauci’s career is shaped by the AIDS epidemic in the US, which peaked in the 1980s and affected disproportionately the LGBTQIA+ community. Fauci’s research centered on finding a vaccine for AIDS, and later, when the trials for the vaccine showed that it was not effective, finding a combined treatment to mitigate the effects of the virus. Fauci also recounts how AIDS forced a transformative shift in public health policy and research, especially emphasizing the role of activists and the necessity of bridging scientific understanding with political action.