Take Two Aspirin and Call Me at 20,000 Feet: An Eagle Scout at the Crossroads of Medicine, Exploration, and Science

In his own words, modern-day explorer Dr. Michael Manyak transports thrill seekers to the farthest reaches of the earth, from the dense forests of the Congo Basin to the icy expanses of Antarctica. 

While many may crave adventures around the globe, they are unlikely to experience anywhere near the many escapades that Dr. Michael Manyak has had during his prolific career. From his tropical medical training in the Philippines to his stints as the expedition doctor on hikes deep in the Andes and in a submersible to the Titanic wreck site, the author has made the combination of medicine and adventure the dominant theme throughout his life. 

His travels have taken him to nearly every continent, where he has encountered endangered and rare species, including camels, snakes, elephants, and more. He has operated on rhinos, rare big cats, gorillas, and even a huge boar hog. Some of his encounters were dangerous to himself and others. He orchestrated evacuations from battle zones in Iraq and was caught in a coup in a dangerous third-world country. He helped rescue nearly 100 victims from a sinking ship.

On occasion, Manyak has been afforded a ringside seat for historical events, and other times, he has been thrust into unusual circumstances by chance. He witnessed the Pentagon attack on 9/11. He managed the healthcare of high-ranking government officials in the United States and other countries. Along the way, he encounters quite a cast of characters, some of them household names and others better left in the dusty corners of history.

Take Two Aspirin and Call Me at 20,000 Feet encapsulates the incredible quests the author experienced on the road to becoming an academic cancer surgeon and explorer in the lab and the field. 

Michael J. Manyak, MD, is an explorer, author, urologist, and corporate medical executive from Delray Beach, FL. He is the Chief Medical Advisor for Crisis Response for multiple Fortune 500 companies and the Greater Washington (DC) Board of Trade. Recognized as a Distinguished Eagle Scout - an honor accorded 0.1% of Eagles – Dr. Manyak developed the Exploration Merit Badge and serves as Vice President for the National Eagle Scout Association, directing the NESA World Explorer Program, which sends nationally selected Eagle Scouts on expeditions. 

A National Fellow of The Explorers Club, Dr. Manyak served on the Board of Directors for ten years, received the Sweeney Medal, and is Associate Editor of The Explorers Journal, where he contributes a column on Expedition Medicine. Dr. Manyak was involved in astronaut healthcare while on NASA’s Aerospace Medicine and Occupational Health Advisory Committee. 

In the field, Dr. Manyak dove to the Titanic wreck site in the Russian MIR submersible as the medical director for the RMS Titanic salvage expedition. He also led a scientific expedition to the Ndoki rain forest in the Congo Basin in a collaborative effort with the World Wildlife Fund, dove the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha in search of artifacts, and was the ship physician on the icebreaker MV Polar Star for an Antarctic expedition with Students On Ice. He was a medical officer on an expedition to the deepest canyon in the world in Peru, on the first scientific dive in Mongolia in Asia’s second largest lake, on an expedition to evaluate a new spectacular finding of early human footprints in Tanzania that is now a World Heritage site, did a site visit to the remote Amazon Yasuni Reserve, and rode camels in the Gobi Desert observing the newly discovered, very highly endangered wild camel. 

Dr. Manyak has been granted eleven patents for his inventions. He has made numerous appearances on national networks and has published over 170 refereed journal articles. His critically acclaimed book Lizard Bites & Street Riots about travel health and safety was a finalist for the USA Best Books Awards and the International Book Awards for travel guides and essays in 2016.