Serve Short-Term
It may start as a desire to do more. A desire to share your medical skills.
You feel blessed and know that you can be a blessing for others who lack access to health care.
But how?
Mission Doctors Association stands in the unique role of being the only organization exclusively dedicated to recruiting, sending, and supporting Catholic Doctors to serve at Catholic mission hospitals and clinics in response to requests from Bishops and Religious orders who run them.In addition to the original three-year, long-term service program, Mission Doctors offers a short-term option for doctors and their families feeling called to serve one to three months. Most who do so, work alongside long-term Mission doctors or at facilities where MDA has a long-term relationship. Patients in Belize, Peru, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ecuador need your skills, your compassion, and your expertise.
The first step is to submit an application and then join us for a Retreat/Seminar.
Retreat/Seminar
Join us for a weekend Retreat/Seminar to explore your call to mission.
During the Retreat/Seminar, you will have the opportunity to reflect on this opportunity to serve, both in light of our Catholic faith and the practical issues of visas, licenses, insurance, etc.
The weekends are free of charge and feature returned mission doctors who share their firsthand experience, and presentations about specific locations, and illnesses commonly treated at these locations. Questions on how spouses and children can become involved are also covered.
The weekend also provides a space to spend time reflecting on God’s call to “heal the sick” and your own desire to serve.
2026 Retreat/Seminar
Spring 2026
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
The date for 2026 is not set yet, but you can still register today so you don’t miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals, gain valuable insights and practical skills to effectively serve in mission, deepen your faith, and build lasting connections with other healthcare professionals who are dedicated to mission work.
Join us at the Spring Retreat Seminar and take the next step in your mission journey.
How to Register:
Ready to join us? Click on the register button below to sign up for the Spring Retreat Seminar. For more information, please contact Amie Garcia, Mission Doctors Program Coordinator at agarcia@missiondoctors.org.
What Attendees are Saying
The Mission Doctors Association’s Retreat for Short-term volunteers provides a great foundation of theological, spiritual, practical, professional and cultural insights for physicians (and their spouses) considering short-term mission opportunities.-Bruce Compton, Senior Director, International Outreach
Catholic Health Association of the United States
My experience with the Mission Doctors retreat was very inspiring. I felt inspired & motivated by other physicians sharing their Mission experiences.
I also felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. I had always felt the calling to serve but did not know how. The retreat gave me enough information to feel confident about moving forward, in other words gave me “the nudge” I needed. Even if now is not the time in your life, the retreat is very enlightening.-Dr. Ann Marie Raffo, OBGYN
Thank you for all your efforts to offer such an exceptional discernment weekend. Your generosity was evident in so many ways – the genuineness of the relationships you have formed with volunteers and donors and board members over the years, your interest in our genuine well-being and fruitfulness of our discernment, the myriad of details that it takes to organize a weekend as you did. I feel that I can speak for all of us attendees, that we felt privileged to participate and are truly grateful for your time, commitment, and efforts. The opportunity to personally meet and thank several board members whose heart is in this mission was the perfect way to end the weekend. Thank you once again for all you do.
-Dr. Chad Kritzberger, Pediatrician