USF to honor doctor, anthropologist, humanitarian Paul Farmer

Posted Dec 8, 2011 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Dec 8, 2011 at 12:37 PM

USF is awarding an honorary degree this week to Paul Farmer, doctor, anthropologist, professor, writer, humanitarian and former resident of Weeki Wachee – where he lived with his family in a bus.

Brilliant and unique, Farmer dedicated his life to bringing medical care to Haiti, cofounding an organization called Partners in Health that now operates around the world.

He has his own ideas about establishing medical services in impoverished, struggling countries. It’s impossible, he says, without an understanding of the countries’ economy, history and culture. That’s the anthropologist in him.

Check out Tracy Kidder’s fantastic book Mountains Beyond Mountains to learn more about Farmer – and his unconventional, though formative upbringing.