Director

Trang Vo, OMS3

Trang is a medical student at PNWU. She grew up in Tacoma, Washington and attended Western Washington University for an undergraduate degree in general biology. Prior to medical school, she was an ER scribe and later spent time as a rural medical intern in Bocas del Toro, Panama. She hopes to learn from others and gain experience in wilderness medicine to support her passion for educating and increasing access to healthcare globally. She has a strong interest in pursuing a residency in emergency medicine at this time. In her free time, you can find her stopping every few minutes to identify insects and plants on hikes, teaching cooking classes, and dabbling in pottery.

Director

Gergana “ana” Alteva, MS3

Gergana is a third year medical student at Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, OR. She grew up in the rural New Hampshire and went to undergrad in NYC. Prior to medical school, she worked as a med-tech programmer, and then served Active Duty Army for 5 years as a comms officer. Her work as an Advanced-EMT in rural New England sparked her interest in wilderness medicine. Her hobbies include blacksmithing, climbing, and obsessing over her husky, Thor.

Sponsors & fundraising committee

Lead: Nina Stash, MS4

Committee members: Garin Griffith from OHSU, Leah Wootton from UW, Joey Rosen from WesternU, and Grae Koloski from ICOM.

Nina is fourth year student at UW who grew up in the Seattle area. She loves to backpack, ski and windsurf. She was an EMT in upstate NY for several years before medical school and is interested in emergency medicine but also considering family medicine. Her interest in wilderness medicine started with getting stuck camping in a hurricane as a child and having to take care of her grandparents. In her free time she likes to force her cats to go camping with her.

Speakers & Program development committee

Lead: Brandon Reid, OMS1

Committee members: Jessica Lai from WesternU and Joy Kim from PNWU.

Brandon is a first year medical student at PNWU. He grew up in a Salmon Idaho, a small mountain town surrounded by wilderness and wildlife. Before deciding to go to medical school, Brandon was a wilderness EMT for a local search and rescue unit and worked in both the ICU and Emergency Departments as a RN. His interest in wilderness medicine began by combining his passions of emergency medicine and being in the back country. Brandon is planning to pursue a residency in emergency medicine and completing a fellowship in wilderness medicine. In his free time, you can find him mountain biking, taking the scenic motorcycle ride, hiding in the mountains, and hiking with his pup Shasta.

sustenance & Food Committee

Lead: Charlotte McKenzie, MS2

Committee members: Elizabeth Shang from PNWU and Amellia McGuire-Matheny from WesternU.

Charlotte fell in love with the PNW as a kid, and was stoked to be stationed here with the Air Force! After that, she took a mountaineering class and a W-EMT class that both changed her life in the best way. While figuring out her life, she worked as a wildland FF, structural FF, aircraft mechanic, and ski patroller. She still serves in the Air National Guard while completing her schooling. Charlotte aspires to one day have more time to go adventuring - or better yet - combine adventuring with work!

workshops committee

Lead: Nathaniel Garry, G1

Committee members: Saylor Miller from OHSU and Shrida Sharma from PNWU.

Nathaniel is an MD-PhD student at the University of Washington, currently toiling away in the lab for the PhD portion of his training. He grew up in Upstate New York, where his love for the outdoors began as his parents would often take him canoe-camping in the Adirondacks. Just before coming to medical school, he lived out of a campervan touring Iceland. However, it wasn't until making out to Seattle for school that his interests in wilderness medicine began to flourish after attending MedWAR in the fall of his first year. At this time, he is likely to pursue Internal Medicine but open to falling in love with other specialties. In his free time, you can likely find him training for some kind of wilderness route race.

logistics & Participants committee

Lead: Alyse Oxenford, OMS4

Committee Members: Katherine Pelz from OHSU.

Alyse is a fourth year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences. Her passion for medicine began in college where she earned her wilderness EMT, but her passion for the wilderness began long before that. She grew up in the mountains of Colorado, hiking and canoeing everywhere she could. In her time before medical school she worked as a canoe instructor, photographer, veterinary technician, wilderness EMT and medical assistant. Through PNWM she hopes to make wilderness medicine education available to more people from all backgrounds. Her hope is that everyone can find the joy in problem solving and creativity found in wilderness medicine. At this time, she plans to pursue residency in emergency medicine. In her free time, Alyse can be found canoeing down a river or taking her dog for a hike.

scenarios committee

Lead: Patrick Hamann, MS3

Committee members: Holden Ard from PNWU, Johanna Pastoriza from RVU, and Alden Davis from OHSU.

Patrick Hamann is a third medical student at Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, OR. Before coming to medical school he was a Wilderness EMT and Wilderness First Responder instructor. His interest in the outdoors began at an early age with hiking and camping in central Oregon. He is planning on pursuing Family Medicine. When not at the hospital you can find him sleeping! Or rock climbing, depending on the weather.