SPEAKERS
Hillary Irons, MD, PHd
Hillary Irons, MD, PhD, FACEP, is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She completed a Wilderness Medicine Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, during which she worked with the Himalayan Rescue Association in the Everest Region of Nepal, served as a trip physician to the Siberian Arctic, and conducted multiple research projects on altitude illness.
Hillary has taught wilderness medicine for many years, delivering lectures, hands-on courses, including AWLS, and leading simulation-based instruction. She is also the Expansion Race Coordinator for MedWAR (Medical Wilderness Adventure Races), which has been teaching and testing wilderness medicine through scenario-based adventure races since 2003. She has held national leadership roles in the wilderness medicine interest groups of SAEM and ACEP.
Her current research focuses on cognitive deficits in hypoxic brain states, particularly acute mountain illness and traumatic brain injury.
Jess Ward, MD
Keynote speaker
I graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. I worked for 5 years as a marine inspector before going to Albert Einstein COM. EM residency was completed at Beth Israel Deaconess and am now the MGH Wilderness Fellow.
Keynote Lecture: Ocean Disasters and Maritime Medicine
Have you ever watched the news and seen a story of a ship capsizing or running aground, or heard stories of people being rescued at sea after weeks adrift and wondered what you would do in that scenario both as a passenger and also as a Physician? Taught by a former Coast Guard Officer , now EM Physician, this didactic seeks to help provide answers to those questions as you follow along an imaginary passenger’s worst nightmare where everything that can go wrong does. See the different scenarios play out, learn about how to survive as a passenger and best care for those around you along the way. By the end of this journey, you will be able to recognize the immediate medical hazards to passengers during the common emergencies at sea, you will know what medical equipment is on most ships, life boats, and life rafts. And hopefully, you will foster a deeper appreciation for the sea as well as the human inventions that have made it safer but not entirely safe.
Nathaniel Oz, MD
Assistant Professor, Warren Alpert Medical School
Dr. Nathaniel Oz is faculty at Brown University Health and serves as co-Director of the Wellness and Environmental Medicine course at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. They have been involved in wilderness medicine for many years, both personally and professionally.
Madi Battersby, MD
Emergency Medicine PGY-2
I'm Madi, and I am a second year emergency medicine resident at UMass Chan. I grew up in the south, went to Clemson University for a B.S. in Biology, lived in Salt Lake City, UT for a couple of gap years, then completed medical school in South Carolina at VCOM-Carolinas. I enjoy backpacking, downhill skiing, hiking, and climbing. My wilderness medicine interests include altitude medicine, cold weather and snow emergencies.