Paul Farmer, MD, PhD - In Memoriam

A smiling Dr. Paul Farmer stands in an office wearing glasses, a white collard shirt, a green tie, and a Brigham and Women's Hospital vest.

Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, was one of HEI/SBH’s closest partners and mentors; his decades of leadership, insight, and experience played a critical role in guiding and shaping our organization. Dr. Farmer was a longtime member of our board and believed deeply in our shared mission of providing quality care to everyone in need. His impact on our organization, and in health care in Haiti and around the world, is incalculable. We will honor Dr. Farmer’s memory and legacy by continuing the important work of fostering global health equity and eliminating the social, racial, and economic barriers that have left too many people behind.

Dr. Farmer was the Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. He wrote extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality, and he was a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.