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While public health professionals don't get formal training on how to operate in highly politically charged and divisive environments, the best thing to do is stick to the facts, evidence, and data, Anthony Fauci, MD, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told an audience of health policy graduate students on Wednesday.

"Realize that you will be faced with policy decisions, sometimes controversial. You will be faced with pushback, particularly now as we have seen for the last couple of years. And I don't think it's going to get any better before it gets worse," Fauci told students during a Georgetown University Health and the Public Interest seminar.

He acknowledged that this can be challenging in the context of an evolving pandemic. As new information appeared, for instance, recommendations would change. But it's not an easy task to get the wider public to understand the scientific process, he said. Head over to MedPage Today to read more about it.