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Marlena Strandir

I am a Family Medicine physician in Dillingham, Alaska. I get to do great medicine because there are no specialists in our region. The nearest tertiary care facility is 350 miles away by plane, which actually made the transition to a rural hospital in Nepal feel very natural. Dillingham was my first job out of residency and I just began my seventh year of practice here. I love my job.

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Ryan Mason

Ryan Mason is a medical school student at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, in Providence, R.I. During his college years, he worked various seasonal jobs helping out with environmental projects and activities, such as trail building.  As a Wilderness First Responder, he often found himself caring for injuries that one sees while working with various environmental tools. Later, he volunteered at South Pole Station, eventually leading the trauma team there, where he worked with a single physician to stabilize and transport sick and injured patients.  It was that challenge of providing care in austere environments that lead him to apply to medical school.  Following his graduation in 2014, Ryan would like to return to the South Pole Station as a physician and work on international health projects around the world.

 

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Dr. Monica Iversen

Dr. Monica Iversen is a physician in Norway, where she practices general and emergency medicine, and has been very active in the field if wilderness medicine. Growing up in Norway, being out in the wilderness has always been a part of her life. She first heard about the Wilderness Medical Society while attending a conference on jungle medicine in Costa Rica in 2009.  As many of our members know, being able to travel all around the world and meet new people with the same interests is a huge perk of being a member of the Society.  When asked what she enjoyed most about being a member of the Society, she said, “Thinking outside the box, and being able to provide good medicine outside of the normal setting.”  She adds that the most rewarding aspect of the practice of wilderness medicine is to combine the “passion with the profession,” the slogan of WMS!

 

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David Weber

David Weber is a paramedic with extensive experience in wilderness medicine.  Aside from the Wilderness Medical Society, where he is involved in the Diploma in Mountain Medicine program, he has worked with the National Park Service as a mountain ranger on Denali and for the National Outdoor Leadership School. “When I began working as a mountain guide and ski patroller, I learned early the vital importance of a comprehensive patient assessment and the delivery of high-quality care even in the absence of modern medical equipment.”  While it was employment that first exposed him to this field, the one thing he enjoys the most is the “simplicity” of practicing wilderness medicine.  “The problem-solving inherent in this specialty focuses my patient care on only the essential algorithms necessary for stabilization and evacuation to definitive care.”

 

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Dr. Henrik Hedelin

Dr. Henrik Hedelin is an orthopedic surgeon from Gothenberg, Sweden.  He earned his FAWM in 2012, and has been an instructor at numerous courses for wilderness medicine providers around the world.  He also enjoys many outdoor activities, such as mountaineering and sea kayaking, and feels that “wilderness medicine is the perfect merge between my professional fields of biology, medicine and guiding.”  Unfortunately, as an orthopedic surgeon, his wilderness medicine skills are not used much in his day-to-day career in the hospital, but they do allow him to pursue wilderness medicine as a sidetrack.  “That sidetrack does, however, contain many rewarding opportunities to both work and volunteer for various projects in austere settings around the world.”

 

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Dr. Ola Dunin-Bell

Dr. Ola Dunin-Bell is board certified physician and surgeon with over 20 years of clinical and teaching experience.  Her love of the outdoors, shared with her husband and children, drew her to get involved with the WMS around 20 years ago. Since then, she has spent time working with various organizations such as the Himalayan Rescue Association in Nepal.  Among the things she enjoys most about being a member of the Society is “the knowledge she has gained over the years through conferences, courses, and just talking to other members.” Dunin-Bell added on, “It’s given me the skills and confidence to deal with situations where there is little or no help or ready back up, let alone up-to-date facilities and technology.  It’s a wonderful feeling to use good clinical skills, and not a lot else, to make a positive impact in someone’s life. For example, I still remember doing a breech delivery of a baby boy in a stone hut up in the Annapurna by the light of a butter lamp.”

 

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