Georgia Tech Honors Fauci With Annual Social Courage Prize

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera, left, speaks as Dr. Anthony Fauci listens in Monday during the ceremony in Atlanta. Georgia Tech awarded Fauci its Ivan Allen, Jr. Prize for Social Courage.

Angie Wang / Associated Press

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the public face of the nation’s fight against COVID-19, has accepted an award that honors his courage in leading Americans through an exceptionally partisan pandemic.

Fauci, who appeared via video call, wore a Georgia Institute of Technology lapel pin during the Monday afternoon ceremony hosted by the university. He ​called the outbreak, which has raged for more than a year, the most polarizing public health crisis he’s yet endured.

“I have never in my decades-long experience seen the level of divisive that exists in the country today,” he said.