Physician and global health pioneer
Dr. Paul Farmer
He spent his life bringing high-quality care to people and places that had gone without it.
His path into medicine
Paul Farmer was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 1959. He earned both an MD and a PhD from Harvard University in 1990.
Medicine as a mission
In 1987 he co-founded Partners In Health with Jim Yong Kim, Ophelia Dahl and Todd McCormack, to bring high-quality medical care to communities that lacked it. In Haiti that work runs through Zanmi Lasante, Partners In Health's sister organization.
He went on to chair the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and was the founder and first chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. His life was told in Tracy Kidder's 2003 book, Mountains Beyond Mountains.
He died in Rwanda on February 21, 2022.
Milestones
1959
Born in North Adams, Massachusetts
1987
Co-founded Partners In Health
1990
MD and PhD, Harvard University
1993
Named a MacArthur Fellow
2003
His work told in Mountains Beyond Mountains
2022
Died in Rwanda on February 21