Photo: MacLean Center / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Paul Farmer is one of the figures who genuinely humbles me. Armed with both an MD and a PhD from Harvard, he could have taken any comfortable path; instead he poured that brilliance into Haiti's poorest communities and insisted, relentlessly, that health is a human right. The MacArthur and the Public Welfare Medal were almost afterthoughts to the actual work of sitting with people the world had written off. His death in 2022 felt like a real loss. What stays with me is the question his life quietly poses to the rest of us: for whom, exactly, are we using our gifts?
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Paul Farmer
- Name (Japanese)
- ポール・ファーマー
- Reading
- ぽーる・ふぁーまー
- Born
- October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Boar
- Origin
- North Adams, Massachusetts, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- anthropologist / human rights defender / physician / writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Hernando High School
- University
- Duke University
Awards & achievements
- 2016 Washburn Award
- 1993 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 2016 Bronislaw Malinowski Award
- 2018 NAS Public Welfare Medal
- 2006 Mendel Medal
- 2010 honorary doctor of the University of Miami
- 2006 honorary doctorate from Princeton University
- 2009 honorary doctorate from Columbia University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Paul Farmer born?
October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022.
Where is Paul Farmer from?
Paul Farmer is from North Adams, Massachusetts, United States.
What does Paul Farmer do?
Paul Farmer works as anthropologist, human rights defender, physician, writer.
Anthropologist — see all → · Human rights defender — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-21
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.