Global Public Health

Dr. Paul Farmer, physician, humanitarian and founding director of Partners in Health, will close the College's Global Public Health Symposium.

Farmer will participate in two events:

4 p.m. Question and Answer Session

7 p.m. “Global Public Health" Presentation (followed by book signing)

Both events take place in Harris Center Auditorium and  are free and open to the public.

Farmer, chair of the Department of Global Health and Social 

Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has written extensively about health, human rights and the consequences of social inequality. He also is the subject of a best-selling book by Tracey Kidder, "Mountains beyond Mountains," which details his work in Haiti.

Farmer's talk is co-sponsored by the John Chrystal Endowment for Distinguished Foreign Visitors.

The Symposium

The symposium was designed to inform the campus community and the general public about some of the most important issues in global public health today from different standpoints: policy, medicine, international relations, personal health, etc.

"Health is a fundamental human right, but many global issues present challenges to public health and well-being," said Sarah Purcell, professor of history and director of the Rosenfield Program. "From Ebola to obesity, the Global Public Health symposium examines some of the most pressing issues in world health today."  

Grinnell's Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights is sponsoring the symposium. Co-sponsors are President Raynard S. Kington, a physician and former deputy director of the National Institutes of Health; the Grinnell Wellness program; and the Henry R. Luce Program in Nations and the Global Environment.