How Paul Farmer Changed Medicine

Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician, medical anthropologist, and mentor to many, died on Monday in Butaro, Rwanda. Partners in Health, the organization he co-founded, confirmed his death in a tweet on Monday. He was 62. Dr. Farmer is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, three children, and thousands of patients and students, like myself, who honor his memory today. While messages pour out from heads of state and celebrities, it is the unified voice of grief from his colleagues and students that underscores the resounding loss felt within the field of global health. Dr. Paul Farmer was a guiding light and inspiration to thousands looking to advance the health of vulnerable people across the world. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] After graduating from Duke University in 1982, Farmer joined Harvard University, earning an MD and a PhD in medical anthropology. He made many trips to Haiti during these formative years, volunteering at a hospital in Cange, Haiti. Here, he helped introduce a revolutionary concept into the field of healthcare and medicine, which has progressively become a privilege of those with money, access, and other forms of power: that all people are deserving of equally excellent care. He believed, “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” This led him to co-found Partners in Health in 1987 as a young medical student at Harvard Medical School, alongside Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, and Jim Y...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news