Dr. Paul Edward Farmer (October 26, 1959-February 21, 2022).

We are beyond disbelief to hear the news of Dr. Paul Farmer’s passing. He was truly an inspiration to many for his selfless spirit and commitment in helping others.

Reflections from our board members and the ways his work inspires us all to fight for the health of all people.

“A lot of people in the world today are alive, directly and through secondary intention and inspiration, because of Paul Farmer, who was an Advisory Council Member of Doctors for Global Health, DGH, from our very initiation in 1995, strongly supporting our birth (at that point Partners in Health had its hands full in Haiti–too busy to take on work in El Salvador). A lot of people are more alive spiritually and professionally through reading the social justice books, articles and op-eds authored and co-authored by Paul Farmer. Early, before the founding of Doctors for Global Health, I bought 25 of the Spanish translation of The Uses of Haiti (Haiti Para Que?—is the translated title) to use training the Health Promoters in Morazán and to give to Salvadoran colleagues. The prescription in that and his other writings, imbued with the Liberation Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez and the lived history of loving Haiti, is to know one’s origins and act to positively change the world. The last op-ed I read that he co-wrote (with Sheila Davis and Ophelia Dahl) on 2/7/2022 in the Boston Globe was titled: “The white nationalist threat to antiracist medicine in Boston: Two Brigham and Women’s Hospital doctors were targeted for their work in addressing disparities in medical treatment” and written to support Michelle Morse (DGH General Assembly 2020 Keynote Speaker) and Bram Wispelwey who have been receiving death threats from US Neo-Nazis for their anti-racist work.

Over the years I had occasion to see Paul Farmer at work in many communities around the world, insisting in his own way that everyone deserves excellent health care, whether in Boston or Cange or Carabayllo or Rwinkwavu. He was my friend. He was a genius with charisma who chose to use his life toward greater healing. Many volunteers have appeared to serve with Doctors for Global Health having read or heard or heard about Paul Farmer. In 2019 in Chiapas, Mexico, many health promoters and other healers with Doctors for Global Health in Mexico came together to do a plenary presentation on Liberation Medicine (“Liberation Medicine: A Challenge Full of Action, Practice, and Living Theory”), invited by The Social Medicine Consortium, closely allied with the Mexican partners of Partners in Health. The Keynote speaker for that conference, Didi Bertrand Farmer, who is Paul Farmer’s wife, met the DGH healers and inspired us all with her call for Community Action toward Health for All (“Building the Political Will and People Power for Community Health Workers”). DGH Communities send special strength toward healing for Didi Bertrand Farmer and her and Paul’s three children.

A few years before, DGH President Linnea Capps had co-authored a book chapter together with the PIH team in Chiapas, one of many collaborations and intersections bending the arc toward justice.

Doctors for Global Health extends our sympathy and solidarity to Didi Bertrand Farmer and Family, Joia Mukherjee, Joe Rhatigan, Sheila Davis and all the Family and Communities served by Partners in Health. We are grateful to Paul Farmer for his support at our initiation, in what we have learned with and through him, in shared goals of healing, hope and fighting systemic injustice—living work that must and will continue.

In Solidarity.”

Dr. Lanny Smith, DGH Board Member

“He was an inspiring global health champion, physician, leader, author, and role model. I will always remember his kind and encouraging words to keep the faith and keep fighting for global health equity. Although I did not get the opportunity to work with him as I had hoped for, I will continue to follow in his footsteps. May you rest in peace in Dr. Paul Farmer.”

Patty, DGH Board Member

“Truly sad to hear about his passing. An extraordinary activist, visionary, and discreet leader connecting health care, well-being and the world.”

Michele, DGH Board Member

“What an incredible loss for the world today with the passing of Dr. Paul Farmer. He was such an incredible pioneer and giant in the Global Health community. He changed the conversation around equity, accompaniment and solidarity. “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” Your legacy will live on, thank you for being such an incredible inspiration!”

Dr. Anna Landau, former DGH Board Member and Volunteer

“The passing of Dr Paul Farmer marks a huge loss for the Global Health community. His contributions have inspired many to be passionate about the mission of equitable health for all. Thank you for your fierce dedication! Your legacy will continue among the work of all us inspired by your teachings… I’m going to channel Dr Farmer with my patients this week.”

Dr. Trisha Schimek, DGH volunteer

“Still reeling about Paul’s death. If you knew Paul at all, you are likely devastated, but aren’t probably that surprised, sadly. He worked constantly, he slept little, he ignored his own health. Ironically. I was so very honored to know him over the years. My feed is filled with memories of this really extraordinary man. I first met him in the late 1990s when he was mostly just famous among health justice folks like me. I was part of smallish group of health activists in Cleveland, starting my first job post-residency. I’ll always be grateful to Dr. Joy Marshall for inviting me to that intimate dinner party where Paul was the guest of honor. He was only 7 years older than me, but we began a friendship that was somewhere between mentor and colleague.

When I worked in Global Health in the 2000s, our paths crossed frequently. There were a few lefty health organizations at that time working to use PEPFAR and USAID dollars in the service of strengthening local health systems, training local healthcare workers, and building systems to bring primary care and modern medical technologies to the poorest and most hard to reach populations. Paul and PIH paved the way and transformed Global Health from a practice that was dominated by technocrats and charities and missionaries to one that was all about justice and solidarity and equity. Despite his workaholic ways and the huge number of things he always accomplished, he was also wholly present when he was with you, at a dinner party, giving a talk, or just having a casual conversation.

I remember leaving the Toronto AIDS Conference in 2006 and Paul and I were going through security together. He waved and smiled and invited me to lunch in the airport as we were waiting for our planes to depart. He had just left this huge conference, I’m sure he had a million things to do, but we spent a half hour sharing a meal like old friends. He had literally hundreds of folks in his life that he shared that kind of intimacy with.

Recently, I asked for his help with a book I’m trying to publish. I left Global Health about 10 years ago, so I hadn’t talked to Paul in at least that long. My email inquiry to him was answered the next day. He wrote, “Hello dear Wendy. Just wanted to give the brief answer: of course. I would be honored to learn from and blurb such a book from someone I admire!”

That was Paul. He wrote a letter of recommendation for me for a writer’s residency at Point Reyes called The Mesa Refuge. I was accepted and will be there in early April, thanks in part to his support.

Thinking tonight of all my friends who worked with him and knew him well, especially Joia Mukherjee and Donna Barry. Rest in Power, my friend. Kembe Fem.”

Dr. Wendy Johnson, former DGH Board Member and Volunteer

https://www.pih.org/article/remembering-dr-paul-farmer

“I have been reading so much in this devastating week, and your story [Wendy Johnson] is like so many others, Paul cared so much about every person he met, and spent much time in the present with them, he elevated everyone around. it’s hard to imagine a world without Paul, but in truth, we are all living in this present world now, with him, having touched us.”

Dr. Timothy Holtz, former DGH Board Member

“I remember sitting at the lunch counter of Sparrs Pharmacy near the Harvard Medical School discussing our global health work – his with Partners in Health and mine with Doctors for Global Health – and our joint commitment to a “preferential option for the poor.”

During my years in El Salvador, I learned about the life of Salvadoran Catholic archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero. He practiced a preferential option for the poor, and was assassinated by right-wing militants on March 24, 1980, during the 12-year civil war in El Salvador. He made many powerful proclamations during his life. This one is a propos to who Paul was: “No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: “You have to treat that. You have to get rid of that.” This was Paul. He was both horrified by the sores and DRIVEN to remove them. And he inspired countless people, myself included, to touch and treat. Paul, I miss you dearly.”

Dr. Jennifer Kasper, DGH Board Member