International Service Learning: Experiential Education
The intent of this podcast is to "share the voices of international service" by "hearing" from those that have stepped out of their comfort zones to make a difference internationally, while also dealing with the issues and challenges of such endeavors. Guests will include those that have participated in international service-learning trips; whether it be medical, faith-based, community engagement, disaster relief, education, etc.
Additionally, we will have guests that are industry leaders and professionals in healthcare, education, study abroad, spirituality, policy, and service as well as those living in the countries being served. By enabling the "voices of international service" to be "heard" we hope to motivate and inspire others to consider participating in an international service-learning trip ... and by doing so make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.
I am Dr. Patrick Hickey (aka Dr. H as my students refer to me) and it is my honor to be the host of this podcast. I have done 20+ years of international service in a variety of roles. Most recently, as a university professor, I have taken many cohorts of healthcare focused students to developing countries to render healthcare as needed, and by doing so we made a huge difference in the lives of those in need. While rendering healthcare we often collaborated with other cohorts of non-medical groups also providing service; together we worked towards common goals of providing much needed care. Post trip I have seen the pictures and/or videos posted on social media by my students and those in other cohorts, and while they do a great job of showing our activities, I always felt that there was something missing ... the voices of those providing the service.
In November 2025 I started the podcast (International Service Learning: Experiential Education) in order to "share the voices of international service".
Episodes
41 episodes
Saving Lives in Garbage Dump Communities Worldwide
A garbage dump is not just a place where trash ends up. In many developing nations, it becomes a workplace, a food source, and the center of a community where families sort plastics and metal beside medical waste just to survive. That’s the wor...
Why Global Health Keeps Failing And How To Fix It
The next pandemic problem is already here, and it is not just a virus. It is a system that fractures on impact. When a crisis hits, we send waves of institutions, NGOs, universities, and volunteers into the same space, often without shared situ...
Advancing Women's Health Internationally
Serving abroad sounds inspiring, until you hit the real-life barriers: limited money, limited time, and the fear that you cannot help without speaking the language. Dr. Patrick Hickey sits down with Nancy, a University of South Carolina public ...
The Value Of Getting Ouside Your Comfort Zone: Lessons Learned Abroad
You can learn a lot about medicine from textbooks, but you learn something different when you have to earn trust in a place where healthcare is hard to reach. We sit down with Rachel, a newly graduated pre-med student headed to medical school, ...
International Disaster Relief: A Rotarian's Efforts To Make A Difference
You can have the biggest heart in the world and still fail in disaster relief if you ignore the people who know the community best. That’s why Larry's approach hits so hard. Larry is a US Army veteran, a Rotarian, a longtime financial advisor, ...
How A Teacher Turned A Kilimanjaro Climb Into A Humanitarian Project
She planned to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for a cause, then life stacked the odds higher. Tiffany Jones is a veteran teacher who gets funded for an Africa adventure, is diagnosed with breast cancer weeks later, and still chooses to train, show up,...
Nursing in the Dominican Republic: A Lesson in Cultural Humility
A one-week trip can expose a lifetime problem: access. Dr. Patrick Hickey sits down with Faith Bordenabe, a newly graduated Villanova nurse heading into pediatric oncology, to unpack what she learned delivering care through a mobile clinic in t...
From Student Nurse To Global Healer (Original release 12/22)
You can be a strong clinician and still miss the most important part of care: making someone feel understood. That’s where Aubrey Hetland’s story hits hard. She’s a nurse practitioner student pursuing her DNP while working in hospital nursing, ...
From Peace Corps To International Affairs: How Service Learning Shapes Global Careers (Original Release 2/16)
The fastest way to misunderstand international service is to treat it like a trip. We sit down with Chrissie, a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Senegal and now works as a Director of International Affairs, to unpack what actually m...
Organ Donation, Global Service, And A Med School Journey (Original Release 1/19)
Organ donation sounds simple until you see what it actually requires: a family facing the worst day of their lives, a hospital balancing end-of-life care with dignity, and teams flying in from across the country to recover and transplant organs...
A Trip To Kenya Reframed What Nursing Means (Original Release 3/23)
You can be clinically prepared and still feel unprepared the moment you meet the need face to face. I’m Dr. Patrick “Dr. H” Hickey, and I sit down with Camila, an ICU nurse and case manager in Texas who took a faith-based medical mission trip t...
Build a Medical Career by Serving Abroad (Original Release 5/26)
One week abroad can do what years of “checking the boxes” can’t: it can make medicine feel real. We sit down with Bryce, a University of South Carolina grad and paid cardiology medical scribe, to talk about the moment international service lear...
A Gap Year Service Learning Trip To Belize Confirms a Future as an MD (Original Release 4/20)
A blood pressure reading of 200/100. A patient who listens, nods, and still chooses not to go to the hospital because of faith. That single moment in Belize forces a bigger question than “What’s the right treatment?” It asks, “How do we care fo...
Six Months Of Global Service Voices
Photos of service trips are everywhere. What’s missing is the part that changes you: the voice, the hesitation, the courage, and the why. At our six-month mark, I’m stepping back to reflect on what International Service Learning with Experienti...
Build A Medical Career By Serving Abroad
Watching medicine up close can change your plans fast, especially when you see it practiced in places that don’t have the safety net of big hospitals, endless imaging, and overflowing supplies. We sit down with Brice, a University of South Caro...
Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone Changed How I See Medicine
A patient waits weeks with a worsening cough, trying herbal tea because a clinic is hard to reach and a hospital visit can cost an entire day of work. That single reality drives so much of what we explore with Leah, a University of South Caroli...
Public Health & Service Learning: A Pathway to Internal Medicine
A four-hour drive should not be the difference between a routine fix and a life-altering outcome, but in many places it is. We sit down with Austin, a graduating medical student about to start internal medicine residency, to talk through the mo...
Safe Care, Far From Home
Want to help without harming? We sit down with Dr. Patrick Hickey—nurse, educator, author, and veteran leader in international service learning—to map the real work behind ethical global health volunteering. From the first country risk check to...
A Fourth Year Medical Student’s Global Health Experience In Belize
You can feel the moment a clinician realizes the test they want simply doesn’t exist. That’s where our conversation with Rafik goes, and it’s why his reflections on Belize stay with us long after the trip ends.We sit down with Rafik, a ...
A Gap Year Service Learning Trip To Belize Confirms a Future as an MD
A blood pressure of 200 over 100. A patient who listens, then calmly says he’s fine and leaves. Moments like that force you to wrestle with the part of medicine no textbook can solve: culture, faith, autonomy, and what it really means to help. ...
A Future Doctor Finds Her Path By Serving Patients In Resource-Limited Clinics
Belize looks like paradise until you step into a clinic where “limited resources” isn’t a concept, it’s the daily operating reality. Dr. Patrick Hickey sits down with Lauren, a recent University of South Carolina grad on the pre-med track, to u...
A Fourth-Year Med Student Plans A Gap Year Medical Trip To Belize
You can learn the steps of medicine from a book, but you learn the weight of medicine when you sit across from a patient and have to earn trust fast. We’re joined by Gabby G, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Carolina who...
A Pre-Dental Student Explains What Global Dental Care Really Looks Like
The fastest way to understand dentistry isn’t another lecture, it’s sitting chairside in a real clinic where the tools are limited, the need is high, and you have to earn trust before you can help. We’re joined by Nikki, a University of South C...
A Trip To Kenya Reframed What Nursing Means
You can prepare for the clinical work, pack the supplies, and review the protocols and still feel completely unprepared for what poverty looks like up close. That’s what makes Camila’s story stick. She’s an ICU bedside nurse and case manager in...
How A Medical Sales Representative Found Purpose On A Humanitarian Mission Trip
A stranger’s LinkedIn message turned into a story we can’t stop thinking about. Anna, a 23-year-old medical sales representatives, packed her bags for Honduras and traded the OR sidelines for a week of hard, heart-forward work—turning a church ...
