The NWMC Planning Committee is composed entirely of students from UWSOM, PNWU, OHSU, COMP-NW, WSU-ESFCOM, and ICOM. Below is this year’s core student leadership tasked with organizing and presenting NWMC6.
nina stash, MS2
Co-Chair
Nina is a second year medical student at the Seattle UW site. She grew up in the Seattle area and went to undergrad in upstate NY. In the past four years, she has worked as an EMT in upstate NY before moving back to seattle to start medical school. Her love of the wilderness started with her family going on hikes every weekend and her grandpa taking them camping to northern Quebec where they got stuck in a hurricane. She enjoyed the adirondacks in NY but is excited to be back in her favorite PNW mountains. Her interest in wilderness medicine started when her dog got hurt years ago and they had to make a makeshift stretcher out of logs and clothes. She is interested in pursuing a residency in emergency medicine and is hopeful to work in the woods at some point in her career. In her free time, Nina likes to ski (hopefully her third ACL holds up), run, camp, and paddleboard. Inside the house, Nina likes to cook fun gluten free food, watch women's basketball, and hang out with her dramatic cats, Atlas and Aero.
hayley glantz, MS2
Co-Chair
Hayley is a second year medical student at PNWU. She grew up in Reno, Nevada where her love for the outdoors began with swimming in Lake Tahoe. Before attending medical school, she worked as a research technician in Seattle doing HIV vaccine research and spending as much time in the mountains and on the water as possible. She enjoys backpacking and hiking, skiing, and any lowkey watersport (i.e. swimming, paddleboarding, and just generally floating). For three years before medical school, Hayley volunteered as a sit ski instructor for Outdoors for All which peaked her interest in wilderness medicine. During the school year, you can generally find Hayley studying outdoors in her hammock or on a long walk in the hills behind the university.
ben reich, MS3
Co-Chair
Ben is a third year medical student at the University of Washington. He was born in Palmer, Alaska and was raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. He attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon where he obtained a B.S. in Biology. From a young age, he was taken on many backpacking trips by his parents, hiking up to a lake, diving in the water and being read bedtime stories by the light of a lantern. His love of the wilderness grew until he discovered outdoor sport climbing in college. A passion was ignited, and he has been a climbing fanatic ever since. During this time, he sought to further his medical education by obtaining an EMT and an eventual WEMT before being accepted into medical school. Currently, his love for both the wilderness and medicine remains. He has hopes to pursue a residency in emergency medicine or internal medicine with the ultimate goal of further developing his wilderness medical knowledge to the point where he can be invited as a speaker at a future NWMC.
Chelsea Mcauslan, MS4
Speakers & Workshops
Chelsea is 4th year medical student at Washington State University. She loves creating community amongst outdoor enthusiasts. Her favorite part of medical school has been learning and pushing herself alongside good friends within the medical field and in the vertical world on rocks. You can count on her to always be stoked and always have poor rope management.
Garvey Dooley, MS3
Marketing & Website
Garvey is a third year medical student at Pacific Northwest University. He intends to pursue emergency medicine. He spends his free time driving way too far to play on rivers in kayaks and rafts. Other interests include paragliding, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, and glow in the dark bocce ball. Before coming to medical school, Garvey spent seven years working as a project engineer managing large-scale river restoration projects to benefit salmon. That job involved lots of pouring over budgets and general number crunching which he actually enjoys and is happy to apply those skills to PNWMed.
Eric Schnell, MS3
Sponsorships & Chair Emeritus
Eric is a third year medical student at PNWU. The 5 years before medical school living in the Flathead Valley of Montana, where he worked as an EMT for a rural fire department, as well as an ER Tech in the mountain town of Whitefish. His passion for wilderness medicine has grown over the years, beginning in college when he guided outdoor trips with his WFR certification. A few years later he took a full Semester in Wilderness Medicine course in Missoula Montana which ended up sparking the fire to become a physician. Having used his training in numerous circumstances, including his own mountain bike accident with significant injuries, he hopes to inspire others to be prepared, innovative, and excited to use their wilderness medicine skills. He also hopes to increase access both to education and to the outdoors for potential recreationists of varying backgrounds. At the moment, Eric is considering residency in Emergency Medicine, but is excited about opportunities to rotate in Cardiology, Surgery, and Critical Care. In his free time, you can usually find Eric backcountry skiing with friends, mountain biking (and hopefully avoiding big crashes in the future!), and experimenting in the kitchen.
erin kinney, MS4
Chair Emeritus
Erin is a fourth-year medical student at OHSU where she has co-led the wilderness medicine interest group. Prior to medical school she worked on concussion research at Seattle Children’s and volunteered as a ski instructor for Outdoors for All, an adaptive ski school at Snoqualmie Pass. In her free time Erin can be found mountain biking and training for her next enduro race, rehabbing her knee to ski as much as possible, climbing mountains or relaxing on a sailboat.