Paul Farmer, T'82, MD, PhD

Physician, humanitarian, MacArthur "genius grant" awardee

"I owe a great debt to this place. I learned a lot about what I wanted to do in life here."

One of six children, Paul Farmer grew up in a trailer park in Florida without running water. His mom worked as a grocery store clerk and his parents' combined income did not equal the cost of tuition, room and board at Duke, where he came on full scholarship. "I look back and recognize the experience as I did not then, as a privilege," says Farmer. "I had this vast opportunity to take any course I wanted, work in a lab, work in an emergency room and have teachers and deans who took great interest in the cultivation of the intellect and one's engagement in the world."

While at Duke, Farmer worked to help migrant farm workers. Since then, he has dedicated his life to treating people in some of the poorest countries in the world and is a leader in the fight for health equity in the U.S. and worldwide. His story is the subject of Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book by Pulitzer prize-winner Tracy Kidder that was required reading for Duke's 2004 entering class.