Dr. Jim Kim on Bending the Arc of Global Health

What if the impossible is just an argument waiting to be lost? Dr. Jim Kim — co-founder of Partners In Health alongside Paul Farmer, former president of the World Bank, former president of Dartmouth College, and former head of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization — joins Dr. Rohan Ramakrishna and Vikram Bhaskaran for a sweeping conversation that traces the birth of the modern global health movement. From his childhood as the son of Korean refugees in a small Iowa farming town, to smuggling sputum samples through Miami customs, to the landmark Gates Foundation grant that cracked open multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment for the world's poorest, Dr. Kim shows how a handful of stubborn idealists bent the arc of history and saved millions of lives. He also reflects on what anthropology taught him about power, why the fight to treat HIV in Africa mattered, and how the dismantling of USAID and the rise of anti-science sentiment are forcing a new generation of physicians to scheme, plot, and reclaim their role as the natural attorneys of the poor.New episodes released wherever you get your podcasts.For more from Roon, visit: ⁠https://www.roon.com/⁠Sign up for our substack: ⁠https://rohanramakrishna.substack.com/⁠Find us on Instagram and X: @roondoctorsIf you have a question, comment, or suggestion for a future guest, please email us: [email protected](00:00) Intro(03:32) Welcome to Good Medicine, Dr. Jim Kim(04:22) Korean refugee parents and a childhood in Iowa(09:17) Muscatine, civil rights, and an early sense of justice(11:30) Quarterback of a 56-game losing streak(12:20) Summer science camp and finding his tribe(14:34) Look in the mirror — his father's reality check(17:19) Anthropology, Arthur Kleinman, and the MD-PhD path(19:59) What anthropology taught him about every room(22:25) The village idiot among economists at the World Bank(24:39) His mother, Zhu Xi, and a friendship with Xi Jinping(28:06) Meeting Paul Farmer and founding Partners In Health(33:18) From Haiti to a squatter settlement in Lima(35:25) An MDR-TB outbreak nobody wanted to admit(38:19) Why the global health establishment pushed back(42:30) The sputum mule and the Massachusetts State Lab(46:46) If we fail, this will be off the table(47:45) Bill Foege, Bill Gates, and the $45 million grant(50:00) HIV is next — and the Lazarus effect(52:00) Fighting the same battle to treat HIV in Africa(54:00) Pool purchasing, ACT UP, and the path to PEPFAR(56:35) Winning the WHO and launching 3 by 5(1:00:28) The new crisis in global health funding(1:01:42) The arc of history doesn't bend on its own(1:08:24) How young physicians can get started today(1:10:25) Mental health, cancer care, and Rwanda(1:14:16) Why Roon could be world-changing(1:19:06) Lightning round: books, leaders, one wish(1:22:19) Physicians as the natural attorneys of the poor