Paul Farmer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paul Farmer
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Farmer in 2011
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| Born |
Paul Edward Farmer
October 26, 1959 |
| Died | February 21, 2022 (aged 62) Butaro, Rwanda
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| Education | Duke University (BA) Harvard University (MD, PhD) |
| Spouse(s) |
Wingdie Didi Bertrand Farmer
(m. 1996) |
| Children |
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| Parent(s) |
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| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
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| Institutions | Harvard University |
Paul Edward Farmer (born October 26, 1959 – died February 21, 2022) was an American doctor and expert in medical anthropology. Medical anthropology is a field that studies how health and illness are shaped by culture and society. Paul Farmer earned his medical degree and PhD from Harvard University. He was a top professor there, leading the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Farmer was also a co-founder of Partners In Health (PIH). This international non-profit group started in 1987. It helps sick people living in poverty get healthcare. PIH also does research and speaks up for those in need. He was also a professor and chief of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Paul Farmer and his team created new ways to treat people in poor areas. They showed that high-quality healthcare could be given even where resources were scarce. Their work was shared in important medical journals.
Farmer wrote many books and articles. He focused on health and human rights. He also wrote about how social unfairness affects diseases. He was known as "the man who would cure the world." This name came from a book about him called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
In 2007, Paul Farmer and Partners in Health won an award. It was for saving lives by giving free healthcare to the world's poorest people. They also worked to make healthcare systems better everywhere. A 2017 movie, Bending the Arc, tells the story of PIH. In 2021, Farmer received the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity for his work.
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Paul Farmer's Early Life and Education
Paul Farmer was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. He grew up in Weeki Wachee, Florida. For some years, his family lived in an old school bus. His father had turned it into a mobile home. Later, they lived on a houseboat in the Gulf of Mexico. The family often faced money problems. This meant they worked in many different jobs. One summer, Farmer worked with Haitian people picking fruit. This was his first time meeting people from Haiti.
Paul Farmer was the brother of former professional wrestler Jeff Farmer. He went to Hernando High School. He was elected president of his senior class. He then went to Duke University. He studied medical anthropology and graduated with high honors in 1982. While at Duke, he spent six months in Paris. He learned to speak French very well. This skill helped him greatly in his future work.
He was inspired by Rudolf Virchow, a 19th-century German doctor. Virchow helped create public health medicine. Farmer's interests were also shaped by events in Central America. There were civil wars and revolutions happening. He also learned about "liberation theology." This idea from the Catholic Church focused on helping the poor. It taught that caring for the poor was a key part of faith.
Farmer started helping migrant workers near his university. He met Sister Juliana DeWolf, who worked with farm laborers. Through this, Farmer became friends with many Haitian farm workers. He listened to their life stories. He became very interested in Haiti and began learning Creole. In 1983, while still in school, he started working with villages in Haiti. He helped them get modern healthcare. He wrote and co-wrote over 100 scholarly papers and several books.
After Duke, Farmer volunteered at a hospital in Cange, Haiti. He then went to Harvard University. He earned his medical degree and a PhD in medical anthropology in 1990. He often returned to Haiti during medical school to continue his work. He finished his medical training in 1996. He was certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases.
Helping People Around the World
In 1987, Paul Farmer and his friends from Harvard started Partners In Health (PIH). These friends included Jim Yong Kim, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, and Todd McCormack. PIH began in Cange, Haiti. By the time Farmer passed away in 2022, PIH had 16 locations in Haiti. It employed about 7,000 people. The PIH group in Cange was called Zanmi Lasante.
Zanmi Lasante built schools, homes, and clean water systems. They helped the community in central Haiti get better facilities. The group vaccinated all local children. They also successfully lowered rates of malnutrition and infant deaths. Zanmi Lasante also worked on preventing HIV during the HIV crisis. They greatly reduced HIV spread from mothers to babies.
In 1999, the World Health Organization asked Farmer and Jim Yong Kim to help. They were to set up global programs for treating multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB). This is a type of TB that is hard to treat. With a large grant, Farmer created special drug programs. These programs were for people in Haiti, Peru, and Russia. This program had very high cure rates. It showed that treating MDR TB could be done well in poor countries.
Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais opened in 2013. This hospital offers advanced medical care. It includes cancer treatment and surgery for injuries. Partners In Health also works in other countries. These include Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, and Peru. They also work in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Russia, and the Navajo Nation. In 2015, PIH started the University of Global Health Equity. This university focuses on providing the best healthcare. It also works to fix unfairness in healthcare.
In 2003, the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was published. It was written by Tracy Kidder. The book tells the story of Farmer's work in Haiti, Peru, and Russia.
In 2009, Farmer became the head of Harvard Medical School's Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. In 2010, Harvard University gave him its highest honor. He was named a University Professor. In 2009, Farmer also became a United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti. He worked under former U.S. President Bill Clinton. In 2012, he was named the UN Special Adviser on Community Based Medicine.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Farmer worked with PIH. They developed a program to track contacts in Massachusetts. This helped stop the spread of the virus. Farmer was also the editor-in-chief of Health and Human Rights journal. He was on the board of many organizations. These groups work for justice, democracy, and health equity around the world.
Paul Farmer's Personal Life and Passing
Paul Farmer was married to Didi Bertrand Farmer. She is a Haitian medical anthropologist. She also works as a community health specialist. She has led many projects at Partners in Health. Her recent work helps girls and young women in Haiti and Rwanda. They had three children together.
Paul Farmer passed away in his sleep on February 21, 2022. He was 62 years old. He died from a heart problem in Butaro, Rwanda. Farmer had been involved in medical education there. He worked at Butaro District Hospital and the University of Global Health Equity. This university started its medical school in 2019.
Books by Paul Farmer
- Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History. Paul Farmer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020. This book talks about the Western African Ebola virus epidemic. Farmer visited the area in 2014. He explained that rich countries had almost no Ebola deaths. He believed this was because they had good healthcare. He argued that the high death toll in West Africa was due to a lack of investment in basic health. He blamed centuries of European rule for the region's poor healthcare.
- AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
- The Uses of Haiti, Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994.
- Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
- Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
- Global Health in Times of Violence, co-edited with Barbara Rylko-Bauer and Linda Whiteford, School for Advanced Research Press, 2009.
- Partner to the Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader. Ed. Haun Saussy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
- Haiti After the Earthquake, Ed. Abbey Gardner and Cassia van der Hoof Holstein. PublicAffairs, July 12, 2011.
- To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation. Ed. Jonathan Weigel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
- In the Company of the Poor: conversations between Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez. Ed. Michael Griffin and Jennie Weiss Block. Orbis Books, 2013.
- Reimagining Global Health. Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, Arthur Kleinman, and Matthew Basilico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Awards and Special Recognition
Paul Farmer received many awards for his work. These include:
- 1993: MacArthur Fellowship (often called a "genius grant")
- 1999: Margaret Mead Award for his book “Infections and Inequalities”
- 2002: Outstanding International Physician Award
- 2005: Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize (given to Partners In Health)
- 2007: The Peace Abbey Foundation Courage of Conscience Award
- 2009: Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
- 2018: Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences
- 2020: Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture (a million-dollar award)
- 2021: Aurora Humanitarian Award
- 2022: Inamori Ethics Prize
- 2022 (after his death): WHO Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Award
Images for kids
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Farmer in 2011
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Farmer (right), 2013
