Farmer's heroes are not towering figures; they are "the mothers of families in Haiti or wherever who get up in the morning without any food or water or wood for the fire and somehow feed their kids, plant a garden, go to the market."

"We've proven that people in poor settings with very complex diseases can be treated and cured," Farmer says, but he is far from satisfied. "We've had some victories," he says. "But if I were truly influential, everyone in the world would have the right to healthcare, food, clean water, other basics. That's the goal."

FARMER BORN: Oct. 26, 1959 EDUCATION: B.A., Duke University; M.D., Harvard Medical School; Ph.D., Harvard FAMILY: Married, one daughter TO RELAX: Movies that take him away from reality

KIM BORN: Dec. 8, 1959, South Korea Education: B.A., Brown University; M.D., Harvard Medical School; Ph.D., Harvard FAMILY: Grew up in one of only two Asian families in Muscatine, Iowa