Speakers
Tracy Kidder
American Writer
Tracy Kidder’s enormously influential book Mountains Beyond Mountains captures two global health crises—tuberculosis and AIDS—through the eyes of a single-minded physician bent on improving the health of some of the poorest people on the planet. The story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a major force in revolutionizing international health, is a gripping and inspiring account of one man’s efforts to establish clinics and hospitals—his compassion for the poor, his inner circle of true believers and, ultimately, his success in helping stem the tide of new HIV and TB infections in Haiti. Farmer is the founder of Zanmi Lasante (Creole for Partners in Health), a non-governmental organization that is the only healthcare provider on the Plateau Central in Haiti.
Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder’s latest New York Times bestseller Rough Sleepers is the powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference. Rough Sleepers introduces readers to Dr. Jim O’Connell, who helped create a program to care for Boston’s homeless community. Today, Dr. O’Connell and his colleagues lead an organization that includes clinics affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Medical Center, and a host of teams including a street team who reach rough sleepers by van. Kidder spent time over five years riding with Dr. O’Connell as he navigated the city at night, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, and friendship to some of the city’s endangered citizens.
Born in New York City in 1945, Kidder attended Harvard, where he earned a BA in 1967. From June 1968 until June 1969, he served as a lieutenant in Vietnam, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star, an experience chronicled in his memoir My Detachment. After the war, Kidder obtained his MA from the University of Iowa, where he attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Over the years, Kidder’s articles have covered a broad array of topics, including railroads, energy, architecture, and the environment. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The New York Times Book Review, and The New York Times.