The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Colyer estimates he’s been on more than two dozen missions during almost 30 years of volunteering with International Medical Corps. The non-governmental relief agency is made up of doctors, surgeons and other health workers.

As a plastic surgeon, most of the medical work Colyer does involves treating people with gunshot wounds, severe burns and shrapnel injuries from bombings.

Security concerns prevent him from saying exactly where he’ll be this holiday season. But in the past, he was part of a relief mission when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. He also helped the victims of genocide in Rwanda and went to Iraq in 2003 after the U.S. invasion.