2024-2025 Guides

Shilpi Ganguly, MS - Founder

PGY-1, Hennepin Healthcare EM/IM Residency

Shilpi has a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a second major in Spanish and minor in Aerospace Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and an M.S. in Modern Human Anatomy from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Currently she sits on the executive boards for the University of Miami Emergency Medicine Student Association and Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group. Her personal interests in wilderness medicine lay within the fields of polar, mountain, tactical, and space medicine. Shilpi is extremely passionate about wilderness medicine and is the master-mind behind this multi-week multi-speaker wilderness extravaganza! Full Bio

Katrina stevens - chair

MS4 SUNY Upstate Medical University

Katrina obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from Clarkson University. After, she went on to serve in the AmeriCorps for West Mountain Regional Health Alliance in Colorado. While volunteering she served as project coordinator, with a focus on improving social determinants of health in the community, specifically food and housing insecurity. Currently, she is an active member of the Adirondack Mountain Rescue team and is pursuing research in wilderness medicine. In her free time she enjoys whitewater rafting, snowboarding, and knitting. Full Bio

jessie dobler - lead Coordinator

MS4 SUNY Upstate Medical University

My name is Jessie and I grew up in Denver, Colorado. I am currently a second-year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University. When I’m not studying I enjoy volunteering a with a local ski patrol, and as an EMT. I also love distance running (especially on trails) and have been starting to get into triathlons! My favorite aspect of wilderness medicine is expedition medicine! Before medical school I led backpacking and canoeing trips in some of the more remote areas of the American West and Canada, and I loved the creative problem solving that can happen when you’re out in the backcountry for multiple weeks. Full Bio

Valentina rodriguez - co-vice coordinator

MS3 - SUNY Upstate Medical University

My name is Valentina Rodriguez and I am originally from Texas but have spent most of my life in the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York. I graduated in 2015 from Harvard University with a degree in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. I love to travel, and shocker I know, spend my time outside! I especially love to be outside in water, both liquid and solid forms. Before medical school I spent time as a canoe guide in northern Ontario Canada, I lived in the subarctic region of the Northwest territories learning about traditional land use and explored my local trails and waters of the Adirondacks with my fiancé and pup. I am applying to emergency medicine residency this coming cycle with hopes to spend my career in areas with underserved populations in rural areas. As a person of color, my hope for both wilderness medicine but also just the outdoor space in general is that it is made more accessible to other people of color. One of my secret talents is that I can perform a headstand in pretty much any situation, for example with skies on or on the stern of a floating canoe. Full Bio

Matthew Lemke - co-vice coordinator

MS2 - University of Kentucky School of Medicine

Hi y’all! My name is Matthew and I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago. Currently, I am a second-year medical student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Throughout high school and my undergraduate years, I spent my summers in remote Northern Ontario living and working on a fly-in-fishing resort which propelled my interest into the outdoors. In college, I was able to obtain my open and advanced scuba diving certifications. Before medical school, I worked as an anesthesia technician and EMT in Lexington. During, my first year of medical school I earned my AWLS in Moab and got certified in Basic Disaster Life Support! Wilderness medicine is so exciting to me as I can mix my love of medicine with my hobbies and interests. I am interested in EMS medicine, rescue medicine, mountain medicine, critical care transport, and austere medicine. Outside of medicine, my interests include fishing, scuba diving, climbing, and hiking but I am always up to try something new! Full Bio

ellie smith - Communications Coordinator

UGYA4 Northeastern University

Ellie grew up in New Hampshire and fell in love with the ocean, lakes, and mountains of New England. She's graduating from Northeastern University this May with a BS in Biochemistry and is taking a gap year while she applies to medical school. During this time, she'll work at Beth Israel in Boston as a Patient Care Technician and Telemetry Technician. Ellie got her WEMT certification in the White Mountains at the SOLO School, and the experience solidified her passion for wilderness and emergency medicine. As a former undergraduate representative, she's looking forward to seeing GOWME continue to grow and working with the new board this year! Full Bio

Kristina borglum - Social Media Coordinator

MS2 - University of South Carolina School of Medicine

Kristina grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio skiing weekly with her family during the winters. Moving to Columbia, SC to attend the University of South Carolina has since transitioned her interests to more warm weather pursuits. She graduated from UofSC with degrees in Biology and Public Health and is currently a second-year medical student at UofSC. She completed an AWLS course in the French Alps and has been using that knowledge to plan lectures and events for UofSC’s Wilderness Medicine Interest Group. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping, and backpacking in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, studying in coffee shops, and playing with her cat, Alfredo. Full Bio

david bagley - Finance Coordinator

MS3 Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Hi! I’m David and I am currently an M1 at St. Louis University School of Medicine. I grew up outside of St. Louis and spent much of my childhood participating in outdoor activities through the Boy Scouts, eventually earning my Eagle Scout in 2015. I attended the University of Missouri-Columbia for undergrad where I earned degrees in Biology and German. Outside of school, I am still heavily involved in outdoor adventure activities, specifically rock climbing, alpinism, and scuba diving (my true passion). I am a certified PADI divemaster and have previously worked leading scuba diving trips in the Florida Keys. Full Bio

ashley lewelling - PR Coordinator

Graduate of California State, Los Angeles

Ashley grew up in Tucson, Arizona spending most of her free time exploring the outdoors and playing sports. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from CSULA while taking pre-med prerequisites on the side. She is currently applying to Clinical Psychology graduate programs that she plans to finish before applying to a medical program. She is working towards her Wilderness First Responder certification and hopes to obtain her W-EMT this summer. In her free time, she loves hiking/backpacking, learning to fly planes, camping, spending time with her two dogs, volunteering with a local food pantry, and kayaking. She is very interested in rescue, wilderness, austere, emergency, and space medicine. Full Bio

nate barott - Webmaster

MS2 SUNY Upstate Medical University

Hailing from the beautiful Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, Nate attended Cornell University for his undergraduate years where he majored in biology and did a lot of trail running and cross country skiing. Before starting medical school, Nate spent a few years leading backpacking trips, ski patrolling, working at an apple orchard, scooping ice cream cones in Yellowstone National Park, researching altitude illness in Nepal, and riding his gravel bike a lot. Full Bio

samantha assad - Undergraduate delegate

2023 Graduate of University of California Riverside

Samantha is a recent graduate of the University of California, Riverside who is currently taking a gap year while working in the Binder Lab at UCR School of Medicine. She graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry with an emphasis in medical sciences and an honors capstone on abnormal behavioral phenotypes in juvenile and adult Fmr1 KO mice. Her interest in wilderness medicine was peaked after getting her open water (2013), advanced (2014), and rescue (2020) scuba diving certs. She has dove in 4 countries and over 30 dive sites. One of her favorites being a plane wreck with sharks at a depth of 108'. She is also an avid hiker. Full Bio

katherine mckinney - international delegate

Paramedic, Graduate of College of William and Mary & University of Exeter

Hey there! I’m Kat. I graduated with a BSc in physiology from William and Mary and just completed a PGDip in Extreme Medicine with the University of Exeter. I’ve studied mountain medicine in Nepal, desert medicine in Oman, and Jungle medicine in Costa Rica! When I’m not traveling, I’m probably outside hiking, kayaking, or paddle-boarding with my dog Goose somewhere in sunny Colorado. A medic by training, these days I work at a Denver trauma center and run the occasional job for ultramarathons in the mountains. Full Bio

Inquiries

Have questions? Interested in collaborating? Want to request a speaker? Want to speak yourself? Please send all general questions, comments or concerns to

shilpi.ganguly@gowme.org

exec@gowme.org

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse