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| birth_name = Richard Michael Hodes
| birth_date = May 30, 1953
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| occupation = Doctor
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'''RickRichard Michael Hodes''' (born May 30, 1953) is an American medical doctor specializing in [[cancer]], heart disease, and spinal conditions. Since the 1980s he has worked in [[Ethiopia]] and has adopted a number of children from the country.<ref name="npr" >{{cite web|title=Humpbacked Children Have a Hero in Ethiopia|publisher=National Public Radio|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130610321}}</ref><ref name="rd" /> Currently, he is the senior consultant at a Catholic mission working with sick destitutes suffering from heart disease (rheumatic and congenital), spine disease (TB and [[scoliosis]]), and cancer. He is medical director of the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]].
Hodes haswas beenpreviously responsible for the health of Ethiopians immigrating to Israel and has worked with refugees in [[Rwanda]], [[Zaire]], [[Tanzania]], [[Somalia]], and [[Albania]].
==Career==
Hodes graduated from [[Middlebury College]], and the University of Rochester Medical School, and trained in internal medicine at [[Johns Hopkins University]].<ref name="rd" >{{cite web|title=Dr. Rick Hodes Helps the Children of Ethiopia|url=http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/dr-rick-hodes-helps-the-children-of-ethiopia/article104652.html|publisher=Readers Digest}}</ref> He first went to Ethiopia as a relief worker during the 1984 famine. He returned there on a [[Fulbright Fellowship]] to teach internal medicine, and in 1990 was hired by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a humanitarian group, as the medical advisor for the country. His original position was to care for 25,000 potential immigrants to Israel. In 1991, he was an active contributor during [[Operation Solomon]], helping the Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel.
In 2001 Hodes adopted two Ethiopian children, putting them on his insurance plan so they could receive treatment in the US for spinal [[tuberculosis]] ([[Pott's disease]]).<ref name="rd" /> Since then heHe has adopted a total of five children from the country.
In 2007, Hodes was selected as a "[[CNN Hero]]," a program that highlights ordinary people for their extraordinary achievements.<ref>http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/dr-rick-hodes-helps-the-children-of-ethiopia/article104652.html</ref> The American College of Physicians has awarded him “Mastership,” and the Rosenthal Award for creative practice of medicine
==Personal life==
Rick Hodes is a [[baal teshuva]], a secular Jew who has embraced Orthodox Judaism.<ref>http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/05/04/2394657/jewish-doctor-in-ethiopia-hailed-in-new-book-film</ref>
==Further reading==
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