There Will Never Be Another Paul Farmer

When I found out this morning that Paul Farmer had died, I thought first of his wife, Didi, and their three children. I thought of his colleagues, and of everyone whose life was saved or changed for the better by him. And then I thought of all the people who know and care about global health because of Paul, far too many to count.

Paul is a hero, and I was fortunate to call him a friend. Although we crossed paths at various conferences, a small town in central Haiti, with Melinda in 2005. We were there to visit a health clinic run by , the incredible organization that Paul co-founded (and that our foundation is proud to support). At the time, PIH was providing world-class health care to people in Haiti, Peru, and Russia, although it’s since expanded to eight more countries. Paul was the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard, and he devoted his life to providing high-quality health care to the world’s poorest people.