When Dr. Anthony Fauci first became director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in 1984, hundreds of people in the U.S. had already died from a mysterious and terrifying disease we now know to be HIV/AIDS. But even though the NIAID was in charge of finding treatments, vaccines and cures for communicable diseases, Fauci said his agency failed to act quickly enough in its search for effective medicines. The traditional research-to-pharmaceutical pipeline, of which Fauci remained staunchly in favor until a dramatic change of heart, took several years from start to finish -- and people with HIV and AIDS didn’t have years to wait. New experimental medicines weren't being shared with patients as soon as they were deemed safe; instead, they were held back until after clinical trials were conducted. “I was trained as a healer, and I was healing no one,” said Fauci during a presentation at the medical conference TEDMED in late November.