Undergraduate School and Major: University of Wisconsin, Madison - B.S. in Biology, Community and Environmental Sociology, Certificate in Environmental Studies
Medical School: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine)
Life/professions/adventures prior to attending medical school: Freshwater ecology and fisheries researcher, study abroad leader, downhill ski instructor, ED scribe, free clinic volunteer, adopted my adventure-pup and copilot, Aster, organized a 250 mile trail run through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to raise awareness for public lands access (there is even a documentary and a Trail Runner Magazine article about it!)
Interests / Hobbies: trail running with my dog, Aster, backpacking, downhill skiing and ski instructing, foraging for wild edibles, vegetable, flower, and native plant gardening, writing cards, fly fishing, public lands access, ecology, maps
Favorite Food: potatoes, popsicles, and spring rolls
Favorite Novels: Braiding Sweetgrass, Prodigal Summer, Harry Potter
Favorite Hike: Dawson Pitamakan loop in Glacier National Park or The Beaten Path trail
Favorite Ski Trail: Anything down the front side on a warm, sunny, spring day on Big Mountain in Whitefish, MT.
Favorite Beach (doesn’t have to be in Maine): I am not really a beach person, but I lived in the British Virgin Islands for a summer and enjoyed stumbling upon the “secret” local beaches.
Closest brush with a famous person: I was in the chair behind Coolio while riding the chairlift in Telluride, CO.
Craziest / Best / Worst Job: I have never had a job I disliked, but working upwards of 80hrs a week studying smelt, an oily fish species that smelled of fishy cucumbers, was sometimes grueling - my hands constantly smelled of fishy cucumbers and their scales were always in my bed. Craziest/most surreal job was working as an aquatic ecology field technician on a lake in Iceland. Best job is a toss up between working as a study abroad leader on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and my 13-year run as a ski instructor (will hopefully return after this medicine thing)
If I weren’t a doctor I would be: I probably would have continued on my freshwater ecology trajectory or worked in outdoor and wilderness education and programming. A farmer is right up there as well. My winters would be spent teaching ski lessons.
Medical Interests: rural and wilderness medicine, wilderness education and experiential learning, the role of physicians as teachers, the intersection of climate, environment, culture and medicine, indigenous and underrepresented minority health in rural areas, pediatric emergency medicine
Maine goals: catch a saltwater fish as well as a Maine brook trout, forage for seaweed, feed my coresidents from our (hopefully) flourishing garden, continue to cultivate friendships and hang-out seshes with my amazing cohort
Life goals: push myself to feel a little bit of discomfort every day, take time to be present and still, do a solo canoe trip down the Wisconsin River, restore a native woodland, prairie and/or wetland, have a farm with a massive garden and loads of flowers
Favorite Place in Maine: Any single track with lax leash laws -the fewer the people the better.
Why MMC: As half of an EM-EM couple, we were looking for a program that would value us as a couple as well as individuals. Maine Med did just that - the faculty and staff went out of their way to not only reassure us, but to show us that couples matching into their program would be an exciting and valuable addition to the EM family. Not to mention, the female leadership and representation across faculty and residents was truly unmatched. Maine Med was also one of the few programs where the “balance” pitch felt sincere and was backed by resident and faculty testimonials. Combine all of that with an unopposed community environment with the resources and opportunities of an academic institution, a surprisingly diverse patient population, all in a location with amazing dog friendly trail and water access, four seasons, and mountains, and Maine Med was the perfect fit for us.