Dr. Paul Farmer
Dr. Paul Farmer is a humanitarian, a doctor, and an anthropologist. Dr. Farmer earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University in medical anthropology. While at Duke University he spent a year studying in France where he studied under Claude Levi-Strauss and became fluent in French. Also while at Duke he started to work with migrant laborers recognizing their poverty he knew he needed to learn more about Haiti. He graduated summa cum laude from Duke. He then completed a brief fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. After his fellowship he then traveled to Haiti to work in public health clinics and mastering the Creole language. While in Haiti he received the news that he had been accepted to Harvard’s medical school. He then simultaneously pursued a medical degree as well as a doctorate in medical anthropology while at Harvard. After Harvard medical school he completed a year of residence at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. At the same time he was starting Partners in Health with colleagues he had met in Haiti and at Harvard. This completed Dr. Farmers’ education, but he the work was not over yet.
Now Dr. Farmer was able to spend more of his time in Haiti. He occasionally visited Boston where he served as an attending specialist on the senior staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Farmer initiated a program in the inner city of Boston to help treat and fight the rising rates of HIV and tuberculosis in Boston.
Most of Dr. Farmer’s career has been focused on his work with Partners In Health. Partners In Health is an international non-profit organization. The goal of this organization is to provide direct healthcare services to, research treatments for and advocate activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer’s research has focused on community based treatment strategies for infectious diseases in resource poor locations. Dr. Farmer has also been advocating for health and human rights and fighting against social inequalities in determining disease distribution and outcomes. Dr. Farmer is currently the Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He also served for ten years as medical director of the charity hospital, L’Hôpital Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti. Also from 2009 to 2012 Dr. Farmer was the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton. And in December 2012, Dr. Farmer was named the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Community Based Medicine and Lessons From Haiti. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues have made huge strides in developing community based treatment strategies that have helped provide high quality care to people in resource poor settings.
In an address to the freshmen class of 2013 at Darmouth Dr. Paul Farmer goes into a lot of detail about why the undergraduates should take advantage of their college years. Dr. Farmer discusses that it was during his undergraduate years at Duke that he realized he was interested in medical anthropology simply by taking one class. This interest guided his decisions for the rest of his life. He then talks about how he learned to combine his interests (medical anthropology) with the apparent need that he observed in the world. He looks at our world and sees it for what it is. He was given opportunity and privilege, he was able to go to IV league universities and have food and a shelter and live life without a fear of eminent death. Dr. Farmer states that it is ok that some of us are privileged and have opportunities. He also includes that because of the opportunities that we have been given we must fight for others so that they can have opportunities. We cannot simply waste our talents and abilities on our own pleasure. We owe it to the other people that we share this world with to fight for their talents and abilities to be recognized. This was what seems to motivate Dr. Farmer. He seems uneasy with the idea that some people never get the opportunity to learn, grow, or have a family simply because they are too sick or their environment does not allow it.
Dr. Paul Farmer came from a poor family. His family moved around a lot and his father was often unemployed. He knows what it is like o have very few things on this earth. Yet, he says that he did not know true poverty until he visited Haiti. He was able to work his way out of his situation. Some people are stuck in their situation no matter how hard they work. Dr. Farmer wants to create opportunity where there is none. He is a hard working and intelligent individual. Dr. Farmer is a truly inspiring person. He used something he found interesting to help make the world a better place. If there were more people who did that, the world would look a lot different.
Sources:
Dartmouth First Year Lecture: Mountains Beyond Mountains. N.d. YouTube, 17 Sept. 2009. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0w1e_Z_LU>.
"Partners In Health." Our Founders. Partners In Health, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.pih.org/pages/our-founders>.
"Paul Farmer Biography." -- Academy of Achievement. N.p., 12 May 2010. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/far1bio-1>.
"Paul Farmer, MD, PhD." The Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/people/faculty/farmer/>.
Now Dr. Farmer was able to spend more of his time in Haiti. He occasionally visited Boston where he served as an attending specialist on the senior staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Farmer initiated a program in the inner city of Boston to help treat and fight the rising rates of HIV and tuberculosis in Boston.
Most of Dr. Farmer’s career has been focused on his work with Partners In Health. Partners In Health is an international non-profit organization. The goal of this organization is to provide direct healthcare services to, research treatments for and advocate activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer’s research has focused on community based treatment strategies for infectious diseases in resource poor locations. Dr. Farmer has also been advocating for health and human rights and fighting against social inequalities in determining disease distribution and outcomes. Dr. Farmer is currently the Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He also served for ten years as medical director of the charity hospital, L’Hôpital Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti. Also from 2009 to 2012 Dr. Farmer was the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton. And in December 2012, Dr. Farmer was named the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Community Based Medicine and Lessons From Haiti. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues have made huge strides in developing community based treatment strategies that have helped provide high quality care to people in resource poor settings.
In an address to the freshmen class of 2013 at Darmouth Dr. Paul Farmer goes into a lot of detail about why the undergraduates should take advantage of their college years. Dr. Farmer discusses that it was during his undergraduate years at Duke that he realized he was interested in medical anthropology simply by taking one class. This interest guided his decisions for the rest of his life. He then talks about how he learned to combine his interests (medical anthropology) with the apparent need that he observed in the world. He looks at our world and sees it for what it is. He was given opportunity and privilege, he was able to go to IV league universities and have food and a shelter and live life without a fear of eminent death. Dr. Farmer states that it is ok that some of us are privileged and have opportunities. He also includes that because of the opportunities that we have been given we must fight for others so that they can have opportunities. We cannot simply waste our talents and abilities on our own pleasure. We owe it to the other people that we share this world with to fight for their talents and abilities to be recognized. This was what seems to motivate Dr. Farmer. He seems uneasy with the idea that some people never get the opportunity to learn, grow, or have a family simply because they are too sick or their environment does not allow it.
Dr. Paul Farmer came from a poor family. His family moved around a lot and his father was often unemployed. He knows what it is like o have very few things on this earth. Yet, he says that he did not know true poverty until he visited Haiti. He was able to work his way out of his situation. Some people are stuck in their situation no matter how hard they work. Dr. Farmer wants to create opportunity where there is none. He is a hard working and intelligent individual. Dr. Farmer is a truly inspiring person. He used something he found interesting to help make the world a better place. If there were more people who did that, the world would look a lot different.
Sources:
Dartmouth First Year Lecture: Mountains Beyond Mountains. N.d. YouTube, 17 Sept. 2009. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0w1e_Z_LU>.
"Partners In Health." Our Founders. Partners In Health, n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.pih.org/pages/our-founders>.
"Paul Farmer Biography." -- Academy of Achievement. N.p., 12 May 2010. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/far1bio-1>.
"Paul Farmer, MD, PhD." The Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/people/faculty/farmer/>.