Paul Farmer, co-founder of the international medical nonprofit group Partners in Health, has told colleagues he is considering a possible Obama administration appointment to coordinate the federal government’s overseas health efforts, The Boston Globe reports.

Dr. Farmer, vice-chairman of the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, helped start Partners in Health when he was a student at the university. He remains active in the organization, which has worked to reform Rwanda’s health system and build antituberculosis programs in Russia and Peru, among other global projects.

The State Department this month proposed a major increase in money for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases worldwide.

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