From Haiti to Rwanda, Paul Farmer Moves Mountains

Paul E. Farmer, Presley professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, made the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe this week with his work in providing healthcare in rural Rwanda...

Paul E. Farmer, Presley professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, made the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe this week with his work in providing healthcare in rural Rwanda.

Farmer launched the nonprofit Partners in Health 20 years ago in Haiti; the organization has since expanded to eight other countries. Farmer and his wife, Didi Bertrand, have made Rwanda their home base; Farmer recently obtained citizenship there and joined the Rwandan Medical Society.

Two decades into his humanitarian work, Farmer seems to be charging full steam ahead. He tells the Globe: "I go to bed worrying about all the promises we've made, and I get up each morning thinking we haven't made enough promises."

That story is here; for more on Farmer's work, read an excerpt from Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book by journalist Tracy Kidder ’67, from the Harvard Magazine archives.

You might also like

Why Harvard Needs International Students

An ed school professor on why global challenges demand global experiences

Harvard Plans Contingencies for International Students

The Kennedy School and School of Public Health are developing online options.

Trump Administration Expands Harvard Student Visa Vetting

State Department tells officials to screen social media, flag private accounts as suspicious.  

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Julie Riew, wearing a white dress, playing guitar and singing into a microphone on stage.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Nineteenth-century prison ruins with brick guardhouse surrounded by forest.

This Connecticut Mine Was Once a Prison

The underground Old New-Gate Prison quickly became “a school for crime.”

Book cover of "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle with subtitle about ambition and the fight for a Black state.

Civil Rights in the American West

A new book chronicles one man’s quest for a Black state.