What I've Learnt - Dr. Rick Hodes

 “Whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.”

Dr. Rick Hodes is JDC’s medical director in Ethiopia.

JDC is the leading Jewish humanitarian organization, working in 70 countries to lift lives and strengthen communities.  Initially arriving in 1984 to help famine victims, he returned in 1985 to teach at Addis Ababa University Faculty of Medicine, and has worked for JDC since 1990.

Dr. Hodes is a graduate of Middlebury College, the University of Rochester Medical School and trained in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Hodes was in charge of the health care of all Ethiopian immigrants to Israel from late 1990 until 2016, about 1% of the Israeli population.  He also participated in Operation Solomon, the historic airlift of over 14,000 Ethiopians to Israel in 36 hours.

Today, Dr. Hodes directs JDC’s non-sectarian medical programs, including cardiac care and treatment of spine disease. He also sees patients at the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s Mission).   His patients cannot afford medical care, so Dr. Hodes raises funds to send heart patients to India for surgery, and spine patients to Ghana for traction and surgery. He has a large network of physicians worldwide he consults with and sometimes donate free care.

During more than 30 years with JDC, Dr. Hodes has also worked with refugees and victims of famine, war, and disease outbreaks in Ethiopia, Albania, Rwanda, Zaire (Congo), Tanzania, Albania, and Somalia.

Dr. Hodes was inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame in 2006, and the following year was selected as a “CNN Hero” in the “Championing Children” category. In 2008, the American College of Physicians awarded him the rare title of “Mastership,” in recognition of “exceedingly stellar career accomplishments.” He was ABC’s “Person of the Week” in 2010. 

He is the subject of the book "This is a Soul", by Marilyn Berger, as well as the Sue Cohn Rockefeller documentary, Making the Crooked Straight, Sam Shnider’s documentary, Bewoket, and Melissa Donovan’s new film Zemene. 

Sometimes there are angels sent from above to heal save and revive and Dr Hodes is one of them.

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