Adam Fierer

Adam Fierer, a medical doctor and surgeon, said he wants to go to Nicaragua not only to heal others, but also to heal himself.

"I'm looking forward to feeling good about what I do again," he said. "That gets too lost in the daily grind of medical practice. My goal as a physician and surgeon has always been to help make people feel better in some way or another, and I want to share that with people who don't have that as part of their lives. I hope to (...) return home with a rejuvenated sense of purpose."

(From left to right, Adam, his son, Ben, his daughter, Rachel and his wife, Alisa)

Adam currently works at the Oceanside Tri-City Hospital and the Encinitas Scripps Memorial Hospital. He went to the University of California, San Diego and spent an extra year in New York City for Laparoscopic Surgery training.

"I think what sets me apart from many in my field is to always find a better, and hopefully easier way to take care of people who need surgery," he said. "I think about the disease but also about how to minimize people's recoveries and minimize their scarring, both inside and out. I don't like to do it only one way because that's the tradition or that's how you were taught. I like to keep up with advances and think of creative ways to always improve."

"I also try to instill as much humor into my day as possible, both with my colleagues and my patients, though some days that can be quite challenging to keep in mind," he added.

He explained that he and Dr. Brody have discussed going on a mission trip for a few years, and said it was interesting that the chosen destination was Nicaragua.

"I can't say that it had to be Nicaragua, but it is in many ways poetic that this is the country where I would first go to help," he said. "My childhood hero, Roberto Clemente, a Puerto Rican baseball player who became a Hall of Fame player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, died tragically in a plane crash on New Years' Eve, 1973, while bringing aid to Nicaragua after a massive earthquake hit the country. There is now a Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in southern Nicaragua. So I guess it is something that has been in me for nearly 40 years."