Who is Anthony Eckshar MD?
Exploring life since 1960, Anthony Eckshar MD has practiced Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine in the Phoenix Metropolitan area since 1986. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, and although predominantly a bedside provider, also an author of over sixty peer-reviewed research articles. He has taught well over a thousand resident physicians and 500 medical students during the course of his career, has received several teaching awards and was elected to the Gold Humanism Honor Society by the medical students at the University of Arizona. Anthony is happily married since 1984, with two adult children.
Anthony Eckshar MD was raised in the Catholic faith (even served as an altar boy) and became a born-again Christian in 1993. He always had an abiding sense that God loved him – one of the greatest gifts a person can receive. Although his faith has waxed and waned over the years, it became increasingly and inexorably inter-twined with his patient care. Dr. Eckshar’s prayer life blossomed under the strain of the Covid pandemic. In the spring of 2020, he started praying in ernest. At first, he prayed mostly for his own safety, but as the months went by, he began focusing on others, culminating in praying for every ICU patient every day. Many only pray during adversity, and Eckshar has come to believe that is why adversity is allowed. He believes we were created to share the love of Jesus, but in our stubbornness, we sometimes need to be forced to make a choice. When we chose the path of prayer, “in all things God works for the good of those that love him.”
Eckshar sees his job as a holy vocation. Even when incredibly discouraging things are experienced in the ICU, love is stronger. To survive the job, and to provide the best medical care to his patients, Anthony Eckshar MD has learned to love them, in whatever way he can find. He believes Dr. Francis Peabody’s words, from almost 100 years ago, still hold true:
“The secret of the care of the patient, is in caring for the patient.”
A note from Dr. Eckshar:
I decided to write the book under a pen name to help reduce any internal motivation I might have towards self-promotion – One Hundred Prayers was supposed to be for God’s glory, not my own. And I sensed balance in the idea that every character was identified by pseudonyms, including myself.
However, after One Hundred Prayers was published, I discovered that I could not promote it anonymously. I didn’t have an agent to help me. And much as I dislike the idea of promoting book sales - my purpose not having been monetary – I realized that my testimony will raise God’s name up in some proportion to the number of people who hear truly hear it. I felt a spiritual duty to get the word out.
So some of you might meet the real me, giving a talk about the book, or doing a book signing – I’d love to meet you and learn your real name, too.
Contact Anthony
Buy the book. Experience the faith.
Written throughout one of the darkest periods of recent American history, 100 Prayers shows what courage, connection, and faith can enable us to achieve no matter the challenge.
Dr. Eckshar takes us through the harrowing stories of an ICU responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also sharing the prayers that gave him hope amongst the heartbreak.