Former USAID nominee gets job with (the other) Clinton

As Laura Rozen reported on The Cable last week, the prominent physician and public health campaigner Paul Farmer is no longer a candidate for director of USAID. Farmer had reportedly been Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s choice for the job but got tripped up in the vetting process. Now it appears that Farmer has gotten ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

As Laura Rozen reported on The Cable last week, the prominent physician and public health campaigner Paul Farmer is no longer a candidate for director of USAID. Farmer had reportedly been Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's choice for the job but got tripped up in the vetting process.

As Laura Rozen reported on The Cable last week, the prominent physician and public health campaigner Paul Farmer is no longer a candidate for director of USAID. Farmer had reportedly been Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s choice for the job but got tripped up in the vetting process.

Now it appears that Farmer has gotten a new job with Clinton’s husband, in his capacity as U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti:

Former United States President Bill Clinton today appointed the physician and Harvard University professor Paul Farmer as the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti to assist in advancing the economic and social development of the impoverished Caribbean nation. 

“Paul’s selfless commitment to building health systems in the poor Haitian communities over the last 20 years has given millions of people hope for a brighter future for Haiti,” said Mr. Clinton.

The Clinton Foundation has supported Farmer’s work in the past and his past experience in Haiti make him a natural fit for the position.

Meanwhile, the administration still needs someone to run USAID.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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