Doctor for the World's Poor to Speak at Loyola

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, an internationally known researcher and advocate for people who are sick and living in poverty, will speak at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Farmer is a medical anthropologist and physician at Harvard University and founding director of Partners in Health. His talk is among the highlights of the medical school's annual St. Luke Week activities.

Farmer will speak from noon to 1 p.m. in the atrium of the Stritch School of Medicine, 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood. His topic is "Partnering with the Poor: Haiti after the Earthquake."

Partners in Health is an international non-profit organization that provides health-care services and carries out research and advocacy. Its activities range from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services.

Farmer is winner of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award" and subject of the book “Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer,” by Tracy Kidder.

St. Luke Week is held in honor of St. Luke, patron saint of physicians and, according to tradition, author of the Gospel of Luke.

Other St. Luke Week activities include:

Monday, Oct. 10 - Medical student service presentations and talks on Service in the Jesuit, Catholic Tradition.

Wednesday, Oct. 12: - State of the School Address: From Good to Great, by Linda Brubaker, MD, MS, interim dean, Stritch School of Medicine. A St. Luke Mass also will be offered.

Thursday, Oct. 13 - Student service Global Health Awards and medical student service presentations.

Friday, Oct. 14 - St. Luke dinner dance at the Carlisle in Lombard, Ill.