Photo by Patrick Connell

Patrick Connell, 60, Phoenix

Education: University of Arizona College of Medicine
Specialty: Emergency medicine; practices at Maricopa County Medical Center.
Abroad: Spends half the year in the Caribbean on the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras. Treks around the island in a beat-up Nissan pickup treating everything from diabetes to dengue fever for a free-standing clinic that was started out of an American nurse’s kitchen.
Cost: $1,000 per month, $25,000 in supplies. All out of pocket.
Why: “It is a challenge, and the people are uniformly grateful for what you can do for them…. Practicing medicine is a gift, not a right. It’s a gift that’s not given to everyone, and I’m finding a way to share it.”
What’s next: Raising money for a small pediatric ward; returning to Phoenix in April.

Photo by Eric Udell

Eric Udell, 40, Tempe

Education: Southwest College, Tempe. Practiced in Tempe since October 2006.
Specialty: Homeopathy and natural therapy
Abroad: Treated villagers living outside Sri Lanka after a catastrophic tsunami struck in 2005. Udell says, “It was suggested there were villages farther down the coast that weren’t getting access to care…. We went down to explore and check that out and found two villages that had seen mobile units maybe twice…. We ended up establishing two small satellite clinics in the wreckage.”
Cost: Covered by fundraisers hosted by Southwest College.
What’s next: Teaching homeopathy to doctors in Guatemala. “It has a far and lasting reach because we’re essentially training doctors to practice homeopathy after we leave. They’re going to treat people for years to come.”