Paul Farmer

Dr. Paul Farmeris the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard and an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Farmer helped found the international health organization "Partners in Health" (PIH) in 1987. Farmer has been the driving force that has grown PIH from its small base in Cange on the central plateau of Haiti, into a worldwide health organization that not only treats some of the poorest people on earth but has changed the ways in which poor people with AIDS are treated.

Farmer has published more than 200 articles, chapters, and books. He has won multiple honors, including a MacArthur genius grant. Aside from his hospital in Haiti, which is free to all patients, and his work in Boston, Farmer sees patients regularly in Russia, Rwanda, and Lima, Peru. Dr. Farmer is a believer in what is known by Catholic theologians as the "Preferential Option for the Poor". His practice in Haiti, Peru, and Russia have their basis in ethnographic analysis and real world practicality. A revolutionary man and doctor of and for the poor. "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World" by Tracy Kidder details Farmer's work in Haiti, Peru and Russia.

Dr. Farmer graduated summa cum laude from Duke with a degree in anthropology. He then received a combined MD and PhD in anthropology from Harvard.