Meet the MedWAR Northwest 2020 Race Directors, composed entirely of medical student leadership from the Pacific Northwest.
Mary Ryan, MS2
Lead Director
Mary Ryan is a second-year medical student at OHSU. Before medical school, she rambled about a bit— teaching in Lyon, France for a year, bike guiding in Burgundy and Bordeaux wine-country, and adventuring as much as she could along the way, wrapping up two coast-to-coast bicycling trips across the US and walking through five pairs of shoes thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail before starting medical school. Nowadays, when her nose isn’t in the books, you’re likely to find her out trail running with her pup and partner, hiking new trails around Mount Hood, or eating too many apples.
Jenny DiPietro, MS1
Lead Director
Jenny is a first year student in the MD/MPH program at Oregon Health & Science University. She grew up in New Hampshire, attended college in Upstate New York, and just moved out to the Pacific Northwest in July 2019. She is happiest when outside, whether that is trail running, hiking, open water swimming, road biking, skiing, rock climbing, or kayaking. She is excited to be involved in the wilderness medicine scene as it combines her two passions: medicine and the outdoors. In her free time, you can find her running in Forest Park with her dog.
Lindsey Fell, MS2
Lindsey Fell is currently a second year medical student at Oregon Health and Science University. She credits her spirit to her Roaring 20’s, which were filled with mountains, avalanches and snow science, emergency medicine, close community, and homemade sourdough bread. She’s excited to currently be learning more about the vast world of medicine, and hopes to one day further link both mountains and medicine together. She is excited to be a part of the regional PNW Wilderness Medicine community.
Cameron Benner, MS1
Cam is a first-year medical student at OHSU. He recently returned to his native Portland, OR after 10 years living in Washington State and abroad. Cam's track towards medicine was jump-started by a 2011 Wilderness EMT course hosted by NOLS in Yosemite Valley. He is passionate about wilderness recreation, education and rescue. His professional interests include resuscitation, social determinants of health, Emergency med and cardiology. He enjoys cycling, mountain biking, alpine and back-country skiing, and trail running!
Emily Hillmer, MS1
Emily is a first year medical student at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Prior to starting school, she worked in the outdoor industry as an Outward Bound instructor, an adaptive ski instructor for the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, and as a ski patroller at Mt. Bachelor. She is a new lead of the OHSU WMIG and is hoping that experience in this role will help her to integrate her passion for the outdoors with her goals in medicine. In her free time, Emily loves backcountry skiing, rock climbing, and running around in the woods.
Jessie Wallace, MS1
Jessie is a first year medical student at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. Jessie grew up on rivers and mountains in Georgia and Colorado, and developed a love for wilderness medicine while leading backpacking and sea kayaking trips during college in Oregon. After college she worked as a raft guide all over the PNW. In her free time she enjoys backpacking, biking, drinking coffee, and all types of skiing.
Michelle Buncke, MS1
Michelle is a first year medical student at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. As a native Oregonian, Michelle's passion for the outdoors began growing up exploring all the Pacific Northwest has to offer. She is a member of the OHSU Wilderness Medicine Interest Group and hopes to incorporate her love of the outdoors and her passion for medicine in her future practice as a physician. Michelle spends most of her free time outside and especially loves trail running, backcountry skiing, rock climbing and biking.
Nellie Trenga-Schein, MS1
Nellie is a first year medical student at OHSU. She grew up exploring the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest through which she developed a love for whitewater, rock climbing, backpacking, skiing, and mountaineering. She is passionate about sharing the outdoors and access to wild places with her community, which has led to work as a whitewater rafting guide in Montana and Idaho. Most recently, Nellie spent the four months before starting school thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. This winter you can find Nellie exploring the Cascades and the trails of Forest Park.
Phil Tabb, MS1
Phil is a first-year medical student at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. Growing up in the great state of Wyoming allowed Phil to develop a passion for outdoor sports at a young age through hiking, skiing, snowboarding, climbing, and any other activity he could try. Frequent injuries in sports and the outdoors began Phil’s interest in wilderness medicine, which was only further encouraged by a short career in the Coast Guard focusing on dive medicine, combat casualty care, and search and rescue. Phil is a new lead of the OHSU WMIG and excited to learn about the great wilderness experiences Oregon has to offer.