Diana L. Farmer

Farmer grew up in Chicago and Boise, Idaho, to a flight attendant mother and Navy fighter pilot father.[1] Her grandfather was a surgeon in Nebraska who graduated from the now defunct National University of St. Louis.[2] Upon completing her Bachelor of Science degree in marine sciences and molecular biology from Wellesley College, Farmer conducted research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.[3] As a result, she was named a Rhodes Scholar finalist. While driving to her interview, she was involved in a car accident and chose to pursue a career in medicine while recovering from her injuries.[1] She earned her M.D. from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1983, where she also completed her internship.[4] She finished her residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 1993 where she was introduced to fetal surgery.[1] After a surgical fellowship in Michigan, Farmer was awarded a Luce Scholarship to study medicine in Asia and moved to Singapore with her husband.[3]

In 1988, Farmer returned to UCSF and became the first female fetal surgeon.[1] As the UCSF Children’s Hospital Surgeon-in-Chief, Farmer’s research interests include fetal therapy interventions for myelomeningocele and other birth defects. In January 2010, Farmer was inducted as a fellow into the Royal College of Surgeons of England, becoming the second woman surgeon from the United States to receive this honor.[5] The following year, she was also elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine.[6]

Upon joining the faculty of University of California, Davis, Farmer became the Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor of Surgery and chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of UC Davis Children's Hospital. In February 2019, she was elected to the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons.[7] While serving in these roles, Farmer continued her research into curing spina bifida. In 2019, Farmer and Aijun Wang identified exosomes and galectin 1 as key to protecting neurons and ultimately reducing the lower-limb paralysis associated with the birth defect.[8] Due to her research, Farmer won a 2020 U21 Award for advancing global perspectives in her field.[9] She was later awarded a grant to co-launch the world’s first human clinical trial using stem cells to treat spina bifida with Aijun Wang.[10] The following year, Farmer became the third woman named president-elect of the American Surgical Association.[11]

Farmer married her husband Charles Cauldwell in 1983.[1]