And with hundreds of press mentions and a glowing New Yorker profile published in 2000, Farmer has attained celebrity status in the medical world.
But Farmer says he objects to his colleagues’ elevated laurels.
“What do I think of it?” he says. “I think it’s wrong. I’m no saint.”
Farmer says he gets no satisfaction from his fame.
“It’s helped our cause, but I do not enjoy this status,” he says. “Not at all. Because the focus should be on the problems at hand—the suffering of the destitute sick—and not on the lives of those who are engaged in addressing them.”
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—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu