Co-Founder of Partners in Health, Paul Farmer, who died Monday, Feb. 21, 2022 attends 2019 Forbes … [+]
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Global health pioneer and founder of Partners in Health Dr. Paul Farmer died Monday, the organization he co-founded confirmed.
Farmer, a noted physician and anthropologist, was 62 years old. He died unexpectedly in his sleep while in Rwanda, Partners in Health said in a statement. A cause of death wasn’t available Monday evening.
“Paul Farmer’s loss is devastating, but his vision for the world will live on through Partners in Health,” Partners In Health CEO Dr. Sheila Davis said in a statement. “Paul taught all those around him the power of accompaniment, love for one another and solidarity. Our deepest sympathies are with his family.”
Farmer, who in December was named one of the 2021 Forbes Healthcare Summit’s Top 10 leaders of the decade, had previously lived in Rwanda and worked for many years on improving the country’s healthcare system. And in 2015 Farmer was honored with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship, which was presented by former President Bill Clinton.
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Farmer was 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,” Partners in Health said. “He wrote extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. Dr. Farmer was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, from which he was the recipient of the 2018 Public Welfare Medal.”
Farmer was the author of several books, including his most recent released in November 2020, “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History” which was considered particularly timely since it was published during the COVID-19 pandemic and took a critical look at the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and lessons that could be learned from it. He also wrote: “In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer,” and “Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction, and To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation.”
Farmer is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, and their three children, Partners in Health said.
