Dr. Paul Farmer, Physician and Global Health Care Advocate, Dead at 62

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Dr. Paul Farmer, physician and humanitarian known for his devotion to providing healthcare to impoverished communities, has died. He was 62.

Farmer died Monday in Rwanda — where had been teaching at a medical school that he co-founded — from an acute cardiac event while sleeping, according to Partners in Health and the Academy of Achievement. The doctor founded PIH, a global health nonprofit, in 1987.

"Paul Farmer's loss is devastating, but his vision for the world will live on through Partners in Health," Dr. Sheila Davis, PIH CEO, said in a statement. "Paul taught all those around him the power of accompaniment, love for one another, and solidarity. Our deepest sympathies are with his family."

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Born in 1959 in North Adams, Massachusetts, Farmer attended Duke University and later earned his MD and PhD from Harvard University. His life's work began in Haiti, he founded a network of 15 clinics and hospitals that serve more than 1.3 million people, per PIH.

Over the years, his nonprofit raised millions for healthcare facilities and expanded to 12 countries including Rwanda, Peru, Liberia, and Haiti, in hopes of providing quality care to communities with a lack of resources.

Farmer's work was introduced widely thanks to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder's 2003 book "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World."

Along with PIH, Farmer was Kolokotrones University professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was also the chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"Paul dedicated his life to improving human health and advocating for health equity and social justice on a global scale," George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard University's Faculty of Medicine, said in a statement. "I am particularly shaken by his passing because he was not only a consummate colleague and a beloved mentor, but a close friend. To me, Paul represented the heart and soul of Harvard Medical School."

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Tributes honoring Farmer have since been shared across social media by his fans and famous friends.

"Paul Farmer changed the way health care is delivered in the most impoverished places on Earth," former president Bill Clinton wrote on Twitter. "He saw every day as a new opportunity to teach, learn, give, and serve — and it was impossible to spend any time with him and not feel the same."

Bill Gates echoed, "What a devastating loss. Paul is a hero, and I was fortunate to call him a friend. I have never known anyone who was more passionate about reducing the world's worst inequities in health — or who did more to live by his values."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's top medical adviser, broke down in tears during an interview, saying he and Farmer were like "soul brothers," The New York Times reports.

"He really stands out as one of the most influential global health figures of our time, and I don't think that's a hyperbole," Fauci said, per the Washington Post. "He sacrificed personal comfort to go into the trenches with the people he cared for."

Farmer is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, and their three children.