Dr. Paul Farmer to speak at Tulane SPHTM graduation
Dr. Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, and co-founder of Partners in Health, will address graduating students and their families at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine graduation ceremony on May 19, 2018.
A well-known figure in the public health community, Farmer and several colleagues founded Partners in Health in 1987, which has developed into a worldwide health organization providing much-needed healthcare in resource-poor settings. The organization manages a hospital in Haiti that provides free treatment to all patients, as well as projects in Rwanda, Malawi, Peru, and other international locations.
Farmer has written extensively on health and human rights, about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases, and about global health. He holds a medical degree and a PhD in medical anthropology from Harvard University, where he is the Kolokotrones University Professor and the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as U.N. special adviser to the secretary-general on community-based medicine and lessons from Haiti.
“Dr. Farmer has been a steadfast advocate for global health, living and working in the communities he has served,” says Dean Pierre Buekens. “He has shown the world that healthcare is a human right and has inspired a generation of students to pursue global public health. We are honored to have him share his message to our newest public health graduates.”
He was recently awarded the National Academy of Sciences’ most prestigious award, the 2018 Public Welfare Medal, for “pioneering enduring, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality healthcare in resource-poor settings in the U.S. and other countries.”
Earlier on the same day as the Tulane SPHTM graduation ceremony, Farmer will be recognized with an honorary degree from Tulane University at the university’s unified commencement ceremony.
