Palliative Medicine Physician and Writer

Marc-David Munk

I am an academic palliative medicine physician. I am also a nonfiction author. My first book, Urgent Calls from Distant Places, will be re-issued globally by the HarperOne imprint of HarperCollins publishers in late 2026. My next book is currently 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 medicine, when I wore ties to work, I held executive roles at various healthcare organizations, including Chief Medical Officer positions at Iora Health, Reliant Medical Group, and CVS Health's MinuteClinic. I became known for leading capitated and value-based physician groups.

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time working abroad. I spent five years in the Middle East working as a market president leading major public/private infrastructure and clinical operations projects and I remain actively involved with a few global NGOs.

At the beginning of my career I worked as an emergency physician and I staffed university trauma centers. I was also Qatar's national EMS medical director, New Mexico's state EMS medical director, a medevac flight surgeon, and a field response physician for Pittsburgh EMS

My family and I live outside Boston.

NEWS

Jan 15/ 26

I'm thrilled that my first book, Urgent Calls from Distant Places has been picked up by the HarperOne imprint of HarperCollins publishers.

Urgent Calls will be edited by Biz Mitchell. Biz is a journalist, the author of four nonfiction books, and an Executive Editor at HarperOne. We anticipate release around the end of 2026, or early 2027.

Thanks to my agent Dalyn Miller for coordinating the deal.

July/ 25

Urgent Calls has been recognized for excellence in writing:

Best travel book of 2025. Indiereader Discovery Awards

Finalist for best memoir. 2025 Eric Hoffer Book Award.

Quarter-finalist for best nonfiction book. 2025 Publisher's Weekly Booklife Awards.

WRITING

WRITING

Books in Release

Urgent Calls from Distant Places

Published by HarperOne, and imprint of HarperCollins,

Re-release anticipated 2026

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. He renders accident scenes in raw, sometimes disturbing spaces, an echo of the tragedies he witnessed during his time abroad, but just as powerful are his reflections on hard-won healings...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."

Booklife

Praise for Urgent Calls