A Better World is Possible
By Chelsea Clinton
Paul Farmer made and kept friends across his life and around the world. He was funny (though his jokes weren’t always the barrel of laughs he thought they were). He loved Game of Thrones before it became a hit TV show. He ate too much candy. He liked a good bottle of red wine shared over a table discussing politics, philosophy, his newest science fiction read and our families. He knew what to take seriously and what to let go. Crucially, he never took the present for granted, always believed better was possible and he never had time for anyone who used the status quo as an excuse for inertia.
My relationship with Paul began when I was a student at Stanford after I read his book, Infections and Inequalities, and emailed him out of the blue with my unsolicited thoughts and critiques. To my great surprise and delight, he wrote back, noting which of my points he thought were fair and which he thought were ridiculous, though he used much kinder language and our pen pal relationship began.
I finally met Paul in person in 2002 at the AIDS conference in Barcelona. Later, through the Clinton Foundation’s work with Partners in Health, I had the privilege of seeing up close Paul’s fierce belief that health care is a human right, regardless of geography, wealth, natural disaster, or conflict. I also saw Paul’s deep humility and ethos of centering people in solving their own problems and knowing when to help and when to get out of the way.
Paul was a doctor, an advocate, a scientist and a lifelong teacher. He loved mentoring his students around the globe, and he loved using science and moral appeals to nurture an understanding in Washington, New York, Geneva and other wealthy centers of power that we all need to care about the suffering of the most vulnerable, even when not in a global pandemic. His commitment to teaching didn’t inoculate him from frustration – he was often frustrated, even angry, at the failure of the powerful to understand that investing in health systems that include the historically powerless is indeed in their own self-interest. That anger though didn’t lead to despondency. Paul was always optimistic because he had seen how much Partners in Health and its partners had achieved over the last four decades of radical love and solidarity, expressed through improved public health and medical care.
Paul Farmer never thought of himself as a hero and would probably scoff at anyone who referred to him as such. Paul was and will always be my hero, as well as my colleague, my mentor and my friend. I miss him every day and keep hearing his voice in my head and in my heart, exhorting all of us to always do more and to never give in to despair or cynicism. Powerfully, I know that there are thousands who feel the same call, including at the Clinton Health Access Initiative and across the Clinton Global Initiative Paul Farmer Health Equity Track partners and countless others. Paul’s legacy is in the work he did and the work he will inspire for generations to come.
Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation, Vice Chair, Clinton Health Access Initiative. As vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, Chelsea Clinton works alongside the Foundation’s leadership and partners to improve lives and inspire emerging leaders across the United States and around the world. This includes the Foundation’s early child initiative Too Small to Fail, which supports families with the resources they need to promote early brain and language development; and the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), a global program that empowers student leaders to turn their ideas into action. A longtime public health advocate, Chelsea also serves as vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and uses her platform to increase awareness around issues such as vaccine hesitancy, childhood obesity, and health equity. In addition to her Foundation work, Chelsea teaches at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and has written several books for young readers, including the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World. Chelsea holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford, a Master of Public Health from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, and both a Master of Philosophy and a Doctorate in international relations from Oxford University. She lives with her husband Marc, their children Charlotte, Aidan and Jasper, and dog Soren in New York City.