Fauci Effect: Doctor Sparks Surge In Medical School Applications

PHOENIX, AZ — Call it the Fauci Effect.

Medical school applications are surging across the country in places such as Phoenix and Buffalo thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci, 80, has helped guide the country through the unprecedented coronavirus crisis with a steady hand, inspiring young people to get into medicine. Medical school applications increased by 18 percent last year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges

Debi Kinder, a 55-year-old mother of two who lost her part-time job during the pandemic, recently signed up for nursing courses at GateWay Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. She told PBS she was inspired by seeing nurses crying and exhausted on television.

"I kept ... I'm gonna cry ... I kept seeing the nurses on the news, and they were like, sitting in the hallways crying, and they were exhausted," Kinder told Stephanie Sy of PBS. "I was really driven to see if I could help in any way."

Nurse leaders across the country say there are more jobs in health care than workers to fill them. Dr. Dori Marshall, director of admissions at the University of Buffalo's medical school, told PBS that virtual classes have also helped attract students. The school's applications surged 40 percent last year.

One of the medical students recently accepted at Buffalo is Ming Lian, who moved to the United States from a small village in China when she was 13 years old.

"It was an incredible feeling," Lian told Sy, adding that virtual courses saved her a lot of money.

NPR recently interviewed Fauci about the Fauci Effect, and the doctor said it was flattering.

"Probably a more realistic assessment is that, rather than the Fauci Effect, it's the effect of a physician who is trying to and hopefully succeeding in having an important impact on an individual's health, as well as on global health," Fauci told NPR. "So if it works to get more young individuals into medical school, go ahead and use my name. Be my guest."