Once upon a time, a clique of Gain-of-Function bio-evangelists rode the 911 money-wave to wealth and fame. Along the way they developed close ties with Chinese scientists and government officials. When Covid happened they walked the red carpet onto the platform of mainstream media (from Fox to CNN) and science journals. They presented themselves as our scientific heroes riding to our rescue in a time of crisis as they (coincidentally?) promoted the CCP's version of events.

In the process of tracing the origins of Covid, the proximity of our celebrity scientists to ground zero 'warrants further investigation'.

W. Ian Lipkin:

• Founding Director of Northeast Biodefense Center in 2003. Granted $46 mil in 2009 alone for “pursuing multifaceted research activities” to fight “emerging infectious diseases and terrorism” with special emphasis on "Bacillus anthracis and ... Zoonotic diseases ...due to expertise of NBC members.”
  
• Member of WHO Collaborating Center.
  
• Loves the limelight. Featured advisor for the movie Contagion, which he never shuts up about. Reveals one of the characters, who saves the world by breaking the rules, is based on him. Conducted media blitz praising the CCP’s system of government (16:17) after returning from China in Feb 2020.
  
• Founding Director of the Beijing Center for Infectious Diseases. Visiting professor at Beijing University. Joint lab at Sun Yat-sen University, Beijing (CCP funded). Splits time between Columbia Uni and China.
  
• Relentlessly touts a medical data-centralization operation called GIDEON, whose funding, according to Lipkin, comes from the CCP. (13:43)
  
• “Close friends” with Chinese government ministers and officials. (18:10)
  
• Received two prestigious awards from the CCP/PLA, including one presented by Li Kechiang in person.
  
• Advocate of Gain-of-Function experiments.
  
• Co-author of Proximal Origins, “the definitive paper ruling out the possibility of a lab leak”, thereby shielding WIV from growing scrutiny. Blamed pangolin from a Wuhan market.
  
• Celebrity virus/environmental evangelist (32:30). Has played up threat of zoonotic crossover all his career - says this is not ‘the big one’.