MEDIA ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    CONTACT:  Cliff Bryant, Marketing
Officer
April 3, 2009        Physicians for Peace
         (757) 625-7569 x. 333  cbryant@physiciansforpeace.org 

  
WHAT:  Physicians for Peace Global Health Forum / Dr. Paul Farmer
As seen on CNN, 60 Minutes and countless other news programs, Dr. Paul Farmer is an
infectious disease physician, anthropologist and co-founder of Partners In Health, a non-
profit known for its collaborative humanitarian healthcare work in Haiti and other countries
around the world.
Dr. Farmer will be the keynote speaker at the Physicians for Peace Global Health Forum,
entitled “Collaborative, Sustainable Health Care in the Developing World.” The Forum,
held on May 15 at Norfolk State University, will examine health care issues facing the
developing world, as well as opportunities for health care organizations to collaborate to
create sustainable, replicable, and effective health care delivery models to serve the most
impoverished populations worldwide.
Dr. Farmer will be joined at the event by other thought leaders in the field of global health,
including the Haitian Minister of Public Health, and medical professionals from a wide
range of university medical schools. The Forum is organized and led by Physicians for
Peace, whose work in expanding access to quality healthcare in the developing world
has served as a model for medical non-profits around the world. Physicians for Peace,
celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2009, has trained tens of thousands of medical
professionals in the developing world.
WHY: The world is facing a global health crisis, with the developing world representing 90% of
the world’s disease burden, but with only 10% of the world’s healthcare capacity. 30,000
children die each day of preventable diseases. A woman in the developing world is 200
times more likely to die in childbirth as a woman in the United States. These kinds of
statistics, though grim, are the impetus for medical non-profits around the world to begin
to address the lack of healthcare in the developing world. The Forum will bring together
thought leaders to address these problems.
WHO:    Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D.
Medical anthropologist and physician Dr. Paul Farmer is a founding director of Partners In
Health, an international non-profit organization that provides direct health care services
and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and
living in poverty. Author or co-author of over 100 scholarly publications, Dr. Farmer has
written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social
inequalities in determining the distribution and outcomes of infectious diseases. He is the
subject of Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times best-seller Mountains
Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
(Random House, 2003).For more information about Dr. Paul Farmer or Partners In
Health, please visit www.pih.org
WHEN:  Friday, May 15, 2009
WHERE: L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center, Norfolk State University
In the afternoon, the Forum will be devoted to a series of panel discussions, featuring
world leaders in global health.
1: 00 pm
GENERAL SESSION I - Building Collaborative, Sustainable Health Care in the
Developing World (75 min)
2:15 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION I – Examples of Collaboration & Existing Programs (75
min)
4:00 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION II – Technology & Training in Support of Local Programs
(75 min)
In the evening, at 7:00 pm, the Forum will be devoted to a keynote address by Dr.
Farmer, followed by a book signing.
DETAILS:  Forum Sessions are free and open to the public; Registration is required at
www.physiciansforpeace.org.
OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES FOR REPORTERS:
Advance and on-site interviews with Dr. Farmer and other Global Health Forum expert-
panelists,
and opportunities for photography and video.
Fact Sheets on Global Health issues, Partners in Health, Physicians for Peace, and Dr.
Farmer’s Biography and Bibliography.
 
For More Information on the Physicians for Peace Global Health Forum, Contact:
Cliff Bryant, Marketing and Communications, Physicians for Peace – (757) 625-7569
cbryant@physiciansforpeace.org
Other Weekend Activities with Dr. Farmer and/or in support of Haiti
•May 16, Eastern Virginia Medical School Commencement at 10:00 a.m. at Norfolk Scope
For more information on the EVMS Commencement, Contact:
Vincent Rhodes, Director of Marketing and Communications, EVMS - (757) 446-7070
•May 16, The Church of the Holy Family – Haiti Day
On Saturday morning, May16th, Virginia Teachers in Partnership, a subcommittee of the
Church of the Holy Family Haiti Committee, is sponsoring a 4 Mile Walk in support of
humanitarian work in Haiti. A celebratory Mass on behalf of the Haiti twinning program will
be held at 5:30 p.m. at The Church of the Holy Family, followed by a dinner with special
guests to include the  Haiti Minister of Public Health, and Loune Viaud, Director of
Strategic Planning and Operations for the Network of Hospitals in Haiti.
For more information on Church of the Holy Family Haiti Day activities, Contact: 
Tim McCarthy at (757) 486-3375