Paul Farmer, MD, PhD

Kolokotrones University Professor

Educational History

  • 1990: MD Harvard Medical School
  • 1990: PhD Harvard University (anthropology)
  • 1982: AB Duke University

Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer is the Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard University; Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and a founding director of Partners In Health (PIH), an international non-profit organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer’s work focuses on community-based treatment strategies for infectious diseases in resource-poor settings, health and human rights, and the role of social inequalities in determining disease distribution and outcomes. He is Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, and served for ten years as medical director of a charity hospital, L’Hôpital Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues in the U.S. and abroad have pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. Dr. Farmer is also the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton.

Dr. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases. His most recent book is Partner to the Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader. Other titles include Pathologies of Power, Infections and Inequalities, The Uses of Haiti, and AIDS and Accusation. In addition, he is co-editor of Women, Poverty, and AIDS, of The Global Impact of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, and of Global Health in Times of Violence. Dr. Farmer is the recipient of the Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the Salk Institute Medal for Health and Humanity, the Duke University Humanitarian Award, the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association’s Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award, the Heinz Award for the Human Condition, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and, with his PIH colleagues, the Hilton Humanitarian Prize. In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award in recognition of his work. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to Social Medicine
  • Health, Culture, and Community: Case Studies in Global Health (Harvard FAS)

Research Interests

  • Health and human rights
  • Role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of disease
  • Treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis) in resource-poor settings
  • Building comprehensive primary health care systems in resource-poor settings in resource-poor settings

Current Projects

  • Medical work in Haiti and Rwanda
  • Research and writing on structural violence, health, and human rights
  • Editorship of the open-access journal Health and Human Rights
  • Reconstruction in Haiti following the January 12, 2010 earthquake

Select Publications

  • P. Farmer. AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press (1992).
  • P. Farmer. The Uses of Haiti. Monroe (ME): Common Courage Press (1994).
  • P. Farmer, M. Connors, and J. Simmons, editors. Women, Poverty, and AIDS: Sex, Drugs, and Structural Violence. Monroe (ME): Common Courage Press (1996).
  • P. Farmer. Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press (1999).
  • P. Farmer, J. Y. Kim. Community-based Approaches to the Control of Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis: Introducing ‘DOTS-plus,’ ” British Medical Journal 317:671-4 (1998).
  • Harvard Medical School, Open Society Institute. “The Global Impact of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.” Boston: Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School (1999).
  • P. Farmer, F. Léandre, J. S. Mukherjee, M.S. Claude, P. Nevil, M. C. Smith-Fawzi, S. P. Koenig, A. Castro, M.C. Becerra, J. Sachs, A. Attaran, J. Y. Kim. “Community-based Approaches to HIV Treatment in Resource-poor Settings,” Lancet 358:404-9 (2001).
  • M. C. Smith Fawzi, W. Lambert, J. M. Singler, S. P. Koenig, F. Léandre, P. Nevil, D. Bertrand, M. S. Claude, J. Bertrand, J. J. Salazar, M. Louissaint, L. Joanis, P. E. Farmer. “Prevalence and Risk Factors of STDs in Rural Haiti: Implications for Policy and Programming in Resource-poor Settings,” International Journal of STD & AIDS 14:848-53 (2003).
  • C. Mitnick, J. Bayona, E. Palacios, S. Shin, J. Furin, F. Alcántara, E. Sánchez, M. Sarria, M. Becerra, M.C. Smith Fawzi, S. Kapiga, D. Neuberg, J. H. Maguire, J. Y. Kim, P. Farmer. “Community-based Therapy for Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis in Lima, Peru,” New England Journal of Medicine 348:119-28 (2003).
  • P. Farmer, M. C. Smith Fawzi, P. Nevil. “Unjust Embargo of Aid for Haiti,” Lancet. 361:420-3 (2003).
  • P. Farmer. “Suffering That is ‘Not Appropriate at All,’ ” Revista. 3:42-7 (2003).
  • Paul Farmer, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press (2003).
  • H.S. F.Fraser, D. Jazayeri, P. Nevil, Y. Karacaoglu, P. E. Farmer, E. Lyon, M. K. Smith-Fawzi, R. Léandre, S. Choi, J. S. Mukherjee. “An Information System and Medical Record to Support HIV Treatment in Rural Haiti,” British Medical Journal 329:1142-6 (2004).
  • S. Shin, J. Furin, J. Bayona, K. Mate, J. Y. Kim, P. E. Farmer. “Community-based Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Lima, Peru: 7 Years of Experience,” Social Science and Medicine 59:1529-39 (2004).
  • D. A. Walton, P. E. Farmer, W. Lambert, F. Léandre, S. P. Koenig, J. S. Mukherjee. “Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Strengthens Primary Health Care: Lessons from Rural Haiti,” Journal of Public Health Policy 25:137-58 (2004).
  • P. Farmer, N. Gastineau Campos. “Rethinking Medical Ethics: A View from Below,” Developing World Bioethics 4:17-41(2004).
  • H.L. Behforouz, P. E. Farmer, J. S. Mukherjee. “From Directly Observed Therapy to Accompagnateurs: Enhancing AIDS Treatment Outcomes in Haiti and in Boston,” Clinical Infectious Diseases 38:S429-36 (2004).
  • P. Farmer. “Political Violence and Public Health in Haiti.” New England Journal of Medicine 350:1483-6 (2004).
  • A. Castro, P. Farmer. “Understanding and Addressing AIDS-related Stigma: From Anthropological Theory to Clinical Practice in Haiti.” American Journal of Public Health 95:53-9 (2005).
  • D. A. Walton, P. E. Farmer, R. Dillingham. “Social and Cultural Factors in Tropical Medicine: Reframing our Understanding of Disease,” in Tropical Infectious Diseases: Principles, Pathogens, and Practice, 2nd edn., R. L. Guerrant, D. H. Walker, P. F. Weller, editors. New York: Elsevier, pp. 26-35 (2005).
  • S. S. Shin, A. D. Pasechnikov, I. Y. Gelmanova, G. G. Peremitin, A. K. Strelis, Y. G. Andreev, V. T. Golubchikova, T. P. Tonkel, G. V. Yanova, M. Nikiforov, A. Yedilbayev, J. S. Mukherjee, J. J. Furin, D. J. Barry, P. E. Farmer, M. L. Rich, and S. Keshavjee. “Treatment Outcomes in an Integrated Civilian and Prison MDR-TB Treatment Program in Russia.” International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 10:402-8 (2006).
  • P. E. Farmer, B. Nizeye, S. Stulac, S. Keshavjee. “Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine.” PLoS Medicine 3:e449 (2006).
  • J. Y. Kim, P. Farmer. “AIDS in 2006—Moving Toward One World, One Hope?” New England Journal of Medicine 355:645-7 (2006).
  • P. Farmer. “From ‘Marvelous Momentum’ to Health Care for All. ” Response to L. Garrett, “The Challenge of Global Health.” Special feature, “How to Promote Global Health.” Foreign Affairs. 2007 Jan 23, online. (In print, Foreign Affairs. 2007 March-April: 155-9).
  • J. Y. Kim, P. Farmer. “Global Issues in Medicine,” in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th edn., A.S. Fauci, D.L. Kasper, E. Braunwald, S. L. Hauser, D. L. Longo, J. L. Jameson, and J. Loscalzo, editors. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 6-15 (2008).
  • Farmer P, Kim J. “Surgery and Global Health: A View from Beyond the OR.” World Journal of Surgery 32(4):533-536 (2008).
  • Ivers L, Garfein E, Augustin J, Raymonville M, Yang A, Sugarbaker D, Farmer P. “Increasing Access to Surgical Services for the Poor in Rural Haiti: Surgery as a Public Good for Public Health.” World Journal of Surgery 32(4):537-542 (2008).
  • Farmer, P. “Challenging Orthodoxies: The Road Ahead for Health and Human Rights.” Health and Human Rights 10(1):5-19 (2008). Farmer, P. “Mother Courage and the Future of War.” Social Analysis 52(2):165-184 (2008).