Salem State University’s long-running and popular speaker series will bring medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer, MD, PhD to campus on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. At the event, Farmer, co-founder and chief strategist of international non-profit Partners In Health (PIH), will discuss his experiences with the organization, focusing on global health inequality as the engine to systematic violence and poverty. Since 1987, PIH has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty.
The event will be held at Salem State University’s Twohig Gymnasium at the O’Keefe Complex. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 10 am at salemstate.edu/series or by calling 978.542.7555.
Farmer has dedicated his life to improving health care for the world’s poorest people, and written extensively on health, human rights and the consequences of social inequality. Through his organization, Farmer and his colleagues in the U.S. and around the world have pioneered novel community-based treatment strategies that help give resource-poor areas access to high-quality health care.
Farmer will be joined on stage by colleagues David Walton, MD, MPH and Jim Ansara of Build Health International, a Boston-based global healthcare infrastructure non-profit that was established in 2013. The inspiration for the non-profit came after the 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. Walton and Ansara came together in Haiti to build the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, a 320-bed state-of-the-art facility in the Central Plateau.
The concept for this event came from Salem State University supporter and honorary degree recipient, Bill Cummings ‘13H. Mr. Cummings, along with his wife Joyce ‘13H, have been instrumental through their foundation to Salem State University’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS). CHGS aims to educate and empower students, teachers, and the community to combat racism, prejudice, ethnic hatred and abuse of authority-- many of the same themes woven throughout Dr. Farmer’s publications, research, and actions. Because of the Cummings’ generosity, for the last two years, a group of CHGS students have traveled to Rwanda to explore its culture following its 1994 genocide. The students visit hospitals made possible by Dr. Farmer via Partners In Health and Dr. Walton and Mr. Ansara through Build Health International. The Series speakers’ roles in Rwanda’s recovery and growth has allowed its government to focus on healthcare and ultimately doubling its life expectancy since 1995. Therefore, this Salem State Series provides a thoughtful synergy to highlight these shared passions.
Farmer holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he is the Kolokotrones university professor and the chair of the department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has received numerous honors, including the Bronislaw Malinowski Award and the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association.
Walton is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Build Health International, as well as an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School. For two decades, Walton has focused on health system strengthening, systemic improvement and expansion of medical care, and medical infrastructure in resource-poor settings.
Ansara, executive chairman and co-founder of Build Health International, started out in construction, and after selling his firm Shawmut Design & Construction in 2005, co-founded the Ansara Family Fund with his wife to end global poverty. Since then, the Fund has supported locally developed projects in Haiti, Nepal and elsewhere. Together, Walton and Ansara continue to work in Haiti and other places through Build Health International.
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 10 am, tickets to the fall 2018 Salem State Series may be purchased through the Series website at salemstate.edu/series or by calling 978.542.7555. Price categories are as follows:
• Premium $60 (Entered to win VIP dinner and photo with speaker)
• Reserved $40
• General Admission $25
• Salem State Student $10
Founded in 1982 as one of the first high-profile speaker series in the country, the Salem State University Series has hosted countless world leaders, artists, athletes, and intellectuals on its suburban North Shore campus. Over the years, thousands of patrons have come to Salem State to hear what Series speakers have to say on a wide variety of subjects. A self-supporting community enrichment program presented through the generous and dedicated support of corporate and individual sponsors alike, the Series is but one facet of the university's public education mission.
The Series, presented under the auspices of the Salem State University Foundation, is pleased to announce that Denorabilia, LLC is the presenting sponsor for this event. A full list of sponsors can be found at salemstate.edu/series