PA Wild Med.com
WildMed 2023 Faculty
September 15-17, 2023
Peter Baumeister, D.O., CDR MC (FS) USNR, FAWM, Course Director
Pete is an Emergency Medicine attending and Director of the Wilderness Medicine Trek (section) at WellSpan in York, PA, The Director of Tactical Medicine for Tier 1 Medical Resources, Instructor at the International School of Tactical Medicine, Stanford EM residency graduate, graduate of the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute and a FAWM candidate. He is a former US Navy Flight Surgeon, Search & Rescue Doc, Emergency Response Team Doc, & a F-18 Super Hornet & H-60 Blackhawk Naval Aviator. While serving in the Military, he received specialized training in Wilderness, Mountain, Hot & Cold weather, Aerospace, Under Sea, Tactical, Disaster, Humanitarian, and International Medicine. He has deployed around the world and practiced medicine in a variety of environments; from an altitude of +50,000’ to -200’ below sea level; and performed med-evacs off of six continents.
Pete’s love for medicine and the outdoors started at a young age. He hand-made his first snowboard at the age of eight, first sutured himself back together at nine, and built his first ropes course at 13. He has been on over 500 dives, is an avid spear fisherman & lobsterman, summited countless 14’ers and explored most of our national parks & wildernesses. Pete also loves hiking, mountain biking, motocross, ORV adventures, mountaineering, scuba diving, white water rafting and kayaking. Pete has broken the speed of sound more times than he can count, and has an unyielding thirst for adventure, enjoys humanitarian and Christian service projects, and above all, spending quality time with his family in the wilderness. (Photo: Mount Whitney, East Face)
Eric Bowman, MD, FACEP, FAWM, Course Founder, Host, Director, and Co-Organizer
He is the previous Director of the Wilderness Medicine Section within the Department of Emergency Medicine at WellSpan York Hospital's Emergency Medicine Residency, York, Pa. Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine; Wilderness Medical Society member; certified in Advanced Wilderness Life Support (AWLS), Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS) and Outdoor Emergency Care; active member of the National Ski Patrol.
Outdoor interests include downhill skiing, camping, backpacking, white water rafting, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and survival skills. SCUBA certifications (PADI) include Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver, Equipment Specialist, Underwater Naturalist, Underwater Navigator and Master SCUBA Diver.
Martha Barrett, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAWM Candidate, Course Assistant Director & CME Organizer
Martha's outdoor adventures began in the wilderness of upstate and western NY. An environmental science fan from way back, she began her love affair with the outdoors with camping, backpacking and sport freshwater fishing with her parents in the Adirondack region. Over the years, she has continued to backcountry camp and hike in various environments. Recently, she's developed a new love of watersports, and is currently exploring the worlds of ocean and whitewater kayaking, whitewater rafting, canoeing and paddleboarding. Between adventures, she found time to become an emergency medicine physician and was thrilled to discover a place where she could dovetail her personal and professional interests! Martha recently became certified as an Advanced Wilderness Expedition Provider and is looking forward to her next explorations! (Photo: Rappelling in the shower, trying to be like Bowman)
Marko Yurachek, Adventure Guide, Special Guest
Marko spends his summers in Alaska as an Adventure Guide. Either a bear ate his cell phone on one of his Grizzly Safaris or he has spent the past several weeks without reception (which is a wonderful thing) so as the course director, I will write his bio. I am sure Marko would be able to add tons of other super cool facts about his adventures. We cross paths at many regional Wild Med conferences where Marko teaches primitive skills. His skills are numerous but include climbing, SAR, any outdoor or primitive skill, navigation and leading Adventure Expeditions. His best trait is his personality. Friendly, personable, humble and a great story teller, I highly suggest you spend some quality campfire time with Marko. He has also been the personal primitive skills trainer for one of the "Naked & Afraid" contestants (who kicked butt on her episode by the way).
Alex Borzok DNP, FNP-BC, PHRN, AWE
Alex Borzok grew up in the mountains of north central Pennsylvania and continues to enjoy outdoor activities including camping, hiking, and backpacking. He has volunteered with Pennsylvania Wilderness Search and Rescue on the ground search team for the last six years. He holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice/Family Nurse Practitioner from Widener University, ASN and BSN degrees in nursing from Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. He currently resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he is melding his medical knowledge with his search and rescue experience and love of the outdoors. In his free time he enjoys spending it with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
Rob Clontz
Mark Collin, MD AEMUS-FPD
Mark is the Director of the Division of Point-of-Care Ultrasound at Wellspan York Hospital where he works as an attending physician in the Emergency Department. He developed a love for the outdoors in childhood that has persisted. He coaches mountain biking for the Elizabethown Mountain Bike Club in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League, and enjoys not only mountain biking, but also road cycling, hiking/mountaineering, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, Skiing and snowboarding, camping, and solving problems in the wilderness with whatever is on hand (he has the MacGuyver theme song set as his wake up alarm).
Paul Freeman, MD, Major, US Army Reserve, FAWM & DiDMM Candidate
Paul is a published Emergency Medicine attending physician at Frederick Health Hospital in Frederick, Maryland. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2009, University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2013 and Emergency Medicine residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in 2016. Paul is in active pursuit of his FAWM and DiDMM. He has spent a decade on active duty in various roles from Department Chair of Emergency Medicine to Battalion Surgeon for the 1-16 Armored Infantry Division and currently serves the 348th Field Hospital for the US Army Reserves. Paul has experience in international medicine, disaster response, search and rescue, exposure, and dive medicine.
He is happiest outdoors. SCUBA, free diving, mountain biking, overlanding, sky-diving, camping, hunting, and fly fishing are some of his passions. He is an avid beekeeper, brewer, and backyard farmer. His wife shares his love of the outdoors and beekeeping; she is a US Army veteran and registered nurse at a small free-standing emergency department.
Aaron S. Frey, DO
Aaron Frey was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. He graduated from Campbell University (North Carolina), double majoring in government and Spanish with a minor in history. He continued his Spanish studies at Middlebury College (Vermont). During his undergraduate studies, he joined the local fire department and became a firefighter, emergency medical technician, and search and rescue diver. His prehospital medicine experiences sparked his interest in becoming a physician, and he graduated from the Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (Virginia) in 2015. He graduated from the Lehigh Valley Health Network (Pennsylvania) emergency medicine residency in 2019 and completed a fellowship in medical toxicology at the University of Virginia in 2022. During his fellowship at UVA, he became an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountain Rescue Group and was an instructor for the UVA School of Medicine Wilderness Medicine elective rotation. He currently is an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at WellSpan Health in York, PA. His areas of interest include response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) events, counterterrorism medicine, and remote/austere/wilderness medicine. His outdoor interests include backpacking, SCUBA diving, kayaking, and bushcraft/survival. He took skiing lessons for the first time in 2023 and is hoping to get as much time on the slopes as possible during the 2024 season.
Joshua Kessler, DO, FAWM, MAJ USAR
Josh is an Emergency Medicine physician at Winchester Medical Center, in Winchester, VA, on FXR Mobile Medical which covers the AMSOil Championship Snocross series at various locations across the US, and occasionally volunteers with Austere Medical Professionals (an austere group that provides free medical coverage to various events in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area). He completed his residency via the US Army at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA and served as an active-duty Emergency Medicine physician at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with deployments to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Folk Polk, LA with the 101st Airborne, to the Sinai Peninsula on a Damage Control Surgical Team (DCST), on a congressional deployment (CODEL) to Africa and Europe, and as a Brigade Surgeon to Kosovo before joining the civilian workforce. He recently completed his Fellowship in Wilderness Medicine via the Wilderness Medical Society and is excited to further increase his contributions to austere/wilderness medicine. His interests include camping, hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing, but he’s always looking to add more. He is incredibly thankful that he’s been invited on as faculty at PA Wild Med!
Michael O. Khoury, DO, MHSA, FAWM Candidate
Michael Khoury is a Medical Toxicology Fellow at Jefferson-Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and a graduate of the York Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency. He has previous experience as an EMT and firefighter with the Kearsarge Fire Department. His interest in Wilderness Medicine arose from his camping experiences and were concreted at the PA Wilderness Medicine and survival skills conference. His interests in Wilderness Medicine include foraging, toxic plants, and mushrooms. When not working as a fellow, he can be found trail running (with stops to pick berries), mountain biking, or rock climbing.
(Photo: Taking a break before hiking the active Volcán Pacaya in Guatemala)
Dan Kreider, MD
Dan is currently an Emergency Physician at WellSpan York Hospital Emergency Department. He is also the Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography Fellowship Director. He has a passion for teaching and his educational interests include point of care ultrasound, EM procedural skills, and wilderness medicine. His love for the outdoors stems from his various experiences backpacking, fishing, and hunting. Backcountry archery elk hunting is one of his favorite activities, recently visiting Montana this past September. Additional outdoor interests include snowboarding, kayaking, freediving, archery, and hiking National Parks. (Photo: Backcountry archery hunting in Montana)
Jeffrey Lazar, MD MPH
Jeffrey Lazar currently serves a Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at York Hospital and System Co-Director for WellSpan Emergency Medicine Division. Originally from New York, Dr. Lazar received his MD and MPH from Tufts School of Medicine, completed his Residency and Chief Residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, and prior to York, served as the Medical Director and Vice Chair at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Dr. Lazar has practiced medicine internationally as a J&J Global Health Fellow in Zambia, as well as working clinically in Haiti and Antarctica. Dr. Lazar’s professional interests include Quality and Safety, Social Determinants of Health, Narrative Medicine, Physician Wellness. Outside of medicine, Dr. Lazar’s interests include sculpting, botany, hiking/mountaineering, and working with rescue animals.
Sheri Li, MD
Sheri is a PGY-2 emergency medicine resident at York Hospital, but grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota where she first learned to paddle, swim, and camp. She attended University of Maryland Medical School and while there, developed a strong interest in wilderness medicine through her WMIG. She joined Maryland Search and Rescue for two years and obtained her Wilderness First Aid Certification. She currently writes part time for the Wilderness Medical Society breaking news column. Her hobbies include climbing, running, paddling, hiking, and dog petting.
Thuyvi Luong, MD
Vi is an emergency medicine physician at York Hospital. She completed an ultrasound fellowship. She is a long-time participant and lecturer at the PA Wild Med conference. Her interests include ultrasound, hiking, and travel.
D. Scott McCracken, MD, FAAFP, FAWM
Scott first became interested in the outdoors as a scout and competitive swimmer, and has been involved in outdoor activity, exploration, sports, and wilderness medicine for over 25 years. Scott is a family medicine physician with special interest in undeserved care and environmental health. He stays busy as a scout leader and youth soccer coach, and getting his kids outside as much as possible.
Siamak “Mak” Moayedi, MD
Mak is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland. He splits his clinical time between Emergency and Hyperbaric Medicine. He’s an avid skier and mountain biker. He has camped/back packed throughout most of the US. On several occasions he has had to save his own life with epinephrine!
John Rollhauser, EMT-B, OEC
John has been a professional ski patroller at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort in Maine, the former Pro Patrol Director at Liberty Mountain Resort in Pa. John is a member of Franklin Search and Rescue (FSAR) in Franklin County, ME. He is a member of the FSAR board of directors, and on the FSAR Technical Rope Rescue Team. He is an fire fighter, EMT & rescue technician with the Kingfield Fire Department. John is also an instructor for: Outdoor Emergency Care, lift evacuation, off-trail & rope rescue and climbing. He is an avid rock climber, hiker, backpacker, mountaineer, mountain biker, kayaker, skier and caver. He believes one of the best sounds in the world is rain on his tent at night.
Photo: Standing on the summit cairns of Burn Mountain in Maine, another day at work. Burn Mountain is the centerpiece of the side country of Sugarloaf Ski Resort.
Christopher Root, MD
Christopher Root is currently a second year Emergency Medicine resident at Wellspan York. He is originally from Lancaster, PA and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, mountain biking, fly fishing, and backcountry elk hunting. He graduated with a B.S. in Biology from The Pennsylvania State University and attended medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He then completed a Transitional Year internship at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and went on to become an Undersea Medical Officer. During his time as an UMO he served as the Battalion Surgeon for Marine Corps 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, Camp Lejeune, NC. His expertise includes dive medicine, hyperbaric medicine, combat medicine, and other topics in wilderness medicine.
Walt Schrading, MD, FACEP, FAWM
Walt is an aeromedical trained emergency physician, with over 100 flights during residency. He is a former 25-year and founding member of the faculty of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at York Hospital. He has recently relocated to the University of Alabama, Birmingham where he is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine. He is the Director of the Office of Wilderness Medicine and directs the Wilderness Medicine Track in the UAB EM residency training program. He has extensive experience teaching AWLS and other wilderness medicine programs.
He was a white-water raft guide on the Youghiogheny River in southwestern PA for seven years and is an expert in white-water rescue and safety. He is an athlete and outdoor adventurer. He is an eight-time finisher of the Ironman triathlon - a 140.6-mile single day journey including a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile marathon run. He hopes to compete in Kona, Hawaii at the world championship one day by his continued participation in this ultimate endurance event. Endurance adventure races including map navigation, mountain biking, canoeing or kayaking, and trail running are also part of his outdoor diet. He continues to compete in other triathlon, running, and adventure races; many of which he participates with his brothers or his wife. He now is enjoying the heat training in the south!
Christopher W. Scott, FAWM Candidate
Christopher Scott, CISSP, CHS-III, is a Search and Rescue (SAR) diver. His broad training and experience as a PADI certified professional Divemaster and an IANTD certified technical diver have yielded, over 800 dives, his deepest to 200’. In 2012 he was involved in the rescue of a pilot of a downed plane and later one of the recovery divers. Christopher enjoys diving and exploring wrecks in the Port Canaveral area. He has been involved in EMS since he was 16 and one of the original members of the first BSA Rescue Explorer post. Christopher is also a certified combat lifesaver and worked many rescues during Desert Shield and Storm. Christopher is also a veteran and former DA Investigator.
In Christopher’s free time he is a locally respected Chef, enjoys the beach, shooting his various guns, and attending church. He is an Officer in VFW Post 10148 and a member of the Cocoa Beach Elks Club. If you enjoy our Pig Roast, give Chris a pat on the back. He is the reason we have the means and the skill to provide you this delicious meal. (Photo: TEC diving in Florida)
Brigette Shipley, RN, WEMT, WEMS Training Officer
Brigette was born into a family of East coast sailors and skiers. She started skiing as soon as she could walk, was racing by age seven, and a professional ski instructor at fifteen. Brigette moved to Breckenridge, Colorado at age twenty to teach skiing. While there, she became a Wilderness EMT and firefighter, sparking a passion for wilderness medicine. Brigette worked as a whitewater raft guide, a sponsored whitewater rafter in the 90’s with multiple first descents, a NOLS mountain guide and instructor, and a rescue technician and WEMT for Summit County Search and Rescue. She later transitioned from a professional ski instructor to a professional ski patroller and Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) instructor and from a EMT to a Paramedic.
Brigette returned to Maryland in September of 2004, got married, and started a dream job with Johns Hopkins Hospital Lifeline Critical Care Transport team. In 2016, Brigette joined Maryland Search and Rescue as their Wilderness EMS Chief and Training officer. In 2023, she acquired her RN and works as a nurse in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview as well as a Critical Care Paramedic for Johns Hopkins Lifeline. Brigette still works as a professional ski patroller and OEC instructor in the winter for Vail resorts. Her hobbies include sailing, skiing, whitewater kayaking and rafting, wakeboarding, wake skating, wake surfing, camping, hiking, wilderness medicine, and technical rescue. She lives in suburban Howard County, MD with her husband, Jeff, and their Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Bode Tahoma aka “Tahoe”.
Douglas Sward, MD, FAAEM, FAWM
Doug is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, currently working at the University of Maryland - Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, Maryland. He also practices Hyperbaric and Dive Medicine at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center - Department of Hyperbaric Medicine. He is a DMAC Medical Examiner of Divers and the Faculty Advisor for the Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group at University of Maryland School of Medicine. Since 2010, he has been the Medical Advisor for Maryland Search and Rescue, which is a team within the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference.
Wilderness medicine interests include: dive medicine, altitude medicine, frostbite, hypothermia, hyperthermia, ultrasound and all manner of improvised wilderness care. Outdoor interests include rock and ice climbing, skiing, diving, mountain biking, kayaking, triathlons and any opportunity to get off the grid. He also has prior experience as a paramedic and firefighter at the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad.
(Photo: nothing beats being a “Powder Hound” skiing out West)
Richard Trierweiler, MD, MPH, FAWM
Richard's outdoor adventures began as soon as he was big enough to reach door locks, grasp sharp and dangerous tools (Read: play toys) from the garage and make a break for the woods. He went on to do the whole Boy Scout/Eagle Scout thing, complete an Ironman, start a triathlon club at Dartmouth, join the Dartmouth Outing Club, mountaineer in Ecuador, join a search and rescue team, etc.
Next came medical school at Ohio State where he started a Wilderness Medicine Interest Group and joined the OSU mountaineering club. He then made time for a short bicycle trip from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida, an MPH at Dartmouth and residency at WellSpan York Hospital.
The last Antarctic summer season he served as the base physician at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Now he's contracted to work in New Zealand. Together they hiked the length of the Pacific Crest Trail, went on a 'round the world tour, biked from Seattle to Bar Harbor, Maine and nearly went over a waterfall. Next up: All the adventures they can find in New Zealand.
Bryan Wexler, MD, MPH, FAAEM
Bryan is the Medical Director of Disaster Preparedness and Response at WellSpan Health. In addition to being a dual board-certified Emergency Medicine and EMS Medicine physician, he also completed his fellowship in Disaster Medicine and Emergency Management and holds numerous certifications in business continuity and healthcare response.
Bryan’s interests in addition to disaster medicine and psychological preparedness include system development and resource management. He is an avid tennis player, a practitioner of martial combatives, along with classical and historical fencing.
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