Hearing from global health leader, Dr. Paul Farmer

One of the great things about having kids is that they get you interested in things you might not otherwise pursue. But when they get older—instead of learning a lot about things like Legos and American Girl dolls, or baseball and water polo—you get sucked into topics like global health.

I can thank my daughter for getting me to read Mountains Beyond Mountains a couple of years ago, a book about Dr. Paul Farmer, an inspirational physician and medical anthropologist who co-founded Partners in Health, and seems truly tireless in his pursuit of bringing health care to the world’s poor and impoverished.

I think I actually gave my daughter the book, knowing it was a topic that would appeal to her; then when she finished it, she urged me to read it. And then it popped up again when the University of Washington adopted it as the book that all incoming freshman were required to read. This is a long way of saying that I was very excited when I learned that Dr. Farmer was going to speak at the UW. He was there last night—along with an overflow crowd—at Kane Hall, in an event billed as a conversation between Dr. Farmer and PATH CEO, Dr. Chris Elias. Talk about global health heavy hitters!

Dr. Farmer was charming and funny, and it was wonderful to hear him in person. Since this was a relatively brief event (about an hour and a half in all), I didn’t come away feeling that I’d added a huge amount to my understanding of global health issues, but what did hit home were these words of his: “Seattle is world headquarters of global health.”

Think about that. We already know we’re the world headquarters for things like coffee and the Kindle and Boeing jets. This is a different kind of mantle. It’s a lot more invisible, hiding in office buildings and labs all around town: at the PATH headquarters, the Gates Foundation, the UW Department of Global Health and many other businesses and organizations around the city. (See all the groups that are part of the Washington Global Health Alliance.) What does it mean and how will it transform our city? 

There were a lot of students in the audience, despite the fact that school’s out for summer. And many of them wanted to know how they could translate their interest in global health into action. That’s the kind of question my daughter—and others of her generation—are asking. His answer was visionary and practical at the same time: “Find something you like to do and that you can do for a long time.” I take that to mean: follow your passion, and continue to pursue it—and you will make a difference. He should know. He’s been at this for 25 years—and he still seems passionate about this, and he is making a difference.