Director of Media Relations
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AMHERST, Mass. - Paul Farmer, professor of social medicine at Harvard University Medical School and director of the Clinique Bon Sauveur in Haiti, will discuss "Pathologies of Power: Rethinking Health and Human Rights in the Global Era," on Saturday, April 28, at 10:30 a.m. in the Cole Assembly Room in Converse Hall at Amherst College.
Farmer will argue for research and action grounded in the struggle for social and economic rights. He believes that future progress in human rights will be linked to the equitable distribution of the fruits of scientific advancement.
In addition to his teaching and clinical work in Haiti, Farmer is the director of the Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change at Harvard and the co-director of Partners in Health, an international organization that brings medical care to the world's poor people. He has written several works of medical anthropology, including Infections and Inequalities (1999). His research interests include health and human rights, infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, and community-based control of infectious diseases. Farmer was profiled recently in the New Yorker in an article called "The Good Doctor."
Pastries, coffee and tea before the lecture and a light luncheon afterward will be provided by the Black Sheep Bakery. The event is organized by the Religious Advisors at Amherst College and sponsored by the Schwemm Fund and is free and open to the public.
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