Palliative Medicine Physician and Writer
Marc-David Munk
I am an academic palliative medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I am also a nonfiction author. My first book, Urgent Calls from Distant Places, will be published globally by the HarperOne imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in January 2027. My next book is underway. It explores the intersections of palliative care, healthcare policy, human frailty, and the inevitable decisions we all face at life's end.
Before palliative care, for over fifteen years, I was a healthcare executive. Most recently, I worked in the Middle East overseeing healthcare projects with government and private-sector partners. Before that, I held Chief Medical Officer positions at Iora Health (a primary care startup later sold to Amazon), Reliant Medical Group (a large multi-specialty physician group), and CVS Health's MinuteClinic. I also helped build the primary care platform for Oscar Health (NY-based insurer and care provider), and led quality and patient safety for the University of New Mexico Health System.
At the beginning of my career, I worked as an emergency physician, staffed university trauma centers in Pittsburgh and Albuquerque, and served as the state EMS medical director for New Mexico and as the national EMS medical director for Qatar.
My family and I live outside Boston.
WRITING
Books in Planned Release
Urgent Calls from Distant Places
Published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins,
Planned Release: January, 2027
"A profound exploration of emergency medicine practiced at the most remote and challenging frontiers of East Africa. This inspiring memoir finds hope and meaning in the face of extraordinary odds as a young physician asks: What are the ethical and moral dimensions of saving one life knowing countless others will die?"
“Prepare yourself for harrowing tales of daring landings on tree-lined dirt runways, emergency medical care rendered under the blazing African sun on patients at the verge of death, eye-opening insight into the longstanding effects of colonialism on East Africa, and one doctor’s profound journey of self-discovery and what it means to humble oneself in the service of others. Marc-David Munk brings the East African Flying Doctors to life in his thrilling and insightful memoir, Urgent Calls from Distant Places. An outstanding read! I highly recommend."
Dr. Jay Wellons: author of All That Moves Us (voted one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker and Publishers Weekly.)
"Urgent Calls From Distant Places is not only a powerful and dramatic portrait of medical relief work in rural Africa, it’s a deeply-felt and utterly accurate critique of the cruel moral failings of American healthcare as well. Marc-David Munk is seeking the essential in medicine regardless of where one is in the world, and approaches his story with humility, a synthetic intelligence, wisdom, and an ultimately affirming reverence."
Dr. Frank Huyler: author of The Blood of Strangers, White Hot Light and Right of Thirst.
"Buy It"
Kirkus Reviews
An enthralling portrait of high-wire emergency care performed under the most trying circumstances...The author’s gripping, evocative prose conveys the adrenalized pressure of emergency care...The result is a true-life medical drama that combines tense heroics with mordant reflections.
Kirkus Reviews
Quarter-Finalist
2023 Publisher's Weekly
Booklife Prize for Non Fiction
9.75/ 10
"Munk evokes the chaos and flurry of Africa’s larger cities alongside the desolation of desert landscapes, all in expert prose that smoothly transports readers into another world. ...Munk’s ability to draw out the tender moments of his experiences and juxtapose them with the stark reality of his medical work in often-dire circumstances lends this memoir originality and magnetism."
“...this book is an absolute home run. One of the best books I have read by a physician writer ever. It is a series of vignettes about his time as a flight physician in Africa. It combines the perfect mix of medicine, culture, religion, socioeconomics and geopolitics of the region. Wow…just pure wowness.”
Dr. Louis Profeta: author of Bestselling author of The Patient in Room Nine Says He's God
"Munk’s dramatic, poignant and humane stories from an African air ambulance read like an adventure story, without shying away from the politics and ethics of such work – I loved it."
Dr. Gavin Francis
Bestselling author of Adventures in Human Being
Winner
Best Travel Book
IndieReader Discovery Awards
"...with succinct and beautifully crafted prose. Urgent Calls from Distant Places is an inspiring and deeply moving book.."
Only a handful of physicians have the combination of knowledge, skills, and attitude to take on this kind of unique work and to craft the many wondrous stories in Urgent Calls. A fabulous read."
Dr. Walt Stoy
Professor Emeritus, EMS Legend
Pre-Orders
Books Underway
?
Title TBD
Currently Underway
An unflinching look at intersection of palliative care, healthcare policy, human frailty, and the choices we all face at life's end.
SELECTED INTERVIEWS
SELECTED MEDIA
Contact
Munk is represented by Dalyn Miller at Torsk Media.
Author inquiries: info at mdmunk (.) com