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THE ENDEAVOUR MEDICAL TEAM

Dr Lucy Obolensky - founder of Endeavour Medical

DR LUCY OBOLENSKY

FOUNDER

  • MBChB MRCS MCEM MRCGP MSc (Sport and Exercise Medicine) DTM&H DIMC FBES FRGS
  • International Health Consultant (LSTM)
  • Associate Professor University of Plymouth Global and Remote Healthcare

Lucy is passionate about supporting and inspiring people to achieve their personal goals.

She has over twenty years experience in the field of Expedition Medicine and Global Health and established her niche working with those facing physical or mental challenges. Great privileges of hers have included being able to summit Kilimanjaro with amputees, cycle across Cambodia with 15 individuals with  Parkinson’s disease, and sail the North Sea with 24 young people all in care with disadvantaged backgrounds. She supports them in accomplishing the immense challenges they set themselves, whilst simultaneously inspiring her to set new goals in her own life.

When in the UK Lucy works clinically as an Emergency Medicine doctor and GP, and also as a volunteer doctor for the Devon Air Ambulance.

In her academic career she is Associate Professor and Programme Lead for the Global Health and Leadership Masters at Plymouth University.

She completed a post graduate qualification in International Health Consultancy at the Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine and works with governments and NGOs to achieve a holistic approach to health system strengthening, locally and globally. Having founded the charity Future health Africa in 2011 she completed a decade as chair and then trustee of the charity, subsequently leading the Community health workstream, whilst also supporting the development of Global Emergency Medicine fellowships.

She holds a range of consultancy posts; she is the senior medical advisor for British Exploring Society, medical technical advisor for Northern Rangelands Trust, and an elected member of the Royal Geographical Medical Cell. Lucy has worked with numerous production companies including BBC, Silverback and Humblebee and regularly works with Sir David Attenborough in his overseas ventures.

Lucy is married with two young kids and loves nothing more than finding new adventures with them in tow. She is a terrible cook so never take her up on a dinner invitation unless it involves a campfire!

Dr Anna Shekhdar

Dr Anna Shekhdar

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

  • MBChB FRCEM DipIMM DSEM

Brought up to believe in the philosophy that ” there’s no such word as can’t” Anna has always been driven to take on challenges and push herself. Through participating in one of the earliest Wilderness Medicine courses in 2002, Anna was inspired by the challenges of working in remote environments and became determined to combine work as a hospital emergency physician with working in the field as an expedition medic and pre-hospital doctor. With a strong belief that medicine provides a unique possibility to combine a rewarding career with travel, Anna has worked hard to seek and take opportunities to do something a little different along the way.

She signed up as an expedition medic in 2004 and has travelled to Peru, China, Iceland, Tanzania, Cambodia and Vietnam and Morocco with charity groups striving to push themselves to achieve a challenge. It is that which motivates her the most – seeing people achieve things they didn’t think they could-and team work to make things happen.

Anna was also chief medical officer for the jungle marathon in Brazil in 2011 and the Olympic torch doctor for the team of 350 people who were involved in the extraordinary procession leading up to the games in the summer of 2012. Looking after yourself and team members to avoid the need for a medic is the key to being a successful expedition medic!

Anna’s love of skiing, climbing and all things mountain led to her complete the diploma in mountain medicine and take on some rather large personal challenges including mountaineering expeditions to Aconcagua and in spring 2007 to the summit of Mount Everest!

Whilst completing her training in emergency medicine she maximised her opportunities to work abroad, including time working in aeromedical retrievals down under. Working for the Royal Flying Doctors gave an amazing insight into the contrast of facilities available in “the bush”, in comparison to the coastal cities of Australia and the role of a retrieval doctor really hones your clinical skills.

Back in theUK Anna kept up her interest in working in pre-hospital care, becoming the first doctor to fly regularly with the Cornwall Air Ambulance and providing training and clinical governance for the paramedic teams also.

It is Anna’s love of teaching practical skills in addition to wanting to give others the opportunities to get involved that led to her being involved in this exciting venture.

Anna is an Emergency Medicine and Trauma Consultant at Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro.

Dr Imara Gluning

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

  • BMBS MSc

Imara is passionate about global health having lived in seven countries during her childhood: born in Kenya and subsequently moving to Italy, the USA, Sudan, Laos, Thailand and the UK. She is determined to use her medical training to help improve healthcare across the globe and to encourage others to do the same!

Imara completed a MSc in Nutrition for Global Health at LSHTM, with a focus on child and maternal undernutrition, and was a Bristol Global Emergency Medicine fellow in 2021-22 spending two months in an ED in Nanyuki, Kenya. She has since been back to North-Eastern Kenya to scope health needs in remote communities and organise medical electives in collaboration with the NGO Northern Rangelands Trust, Dharura Charity and Endeavour Medical.

Her happy place is by the sea with a love for swimming, diving, and sailing! Expeditions include a Trans-Atlantic sail and a medic for the BBC on an upcoming production filmed in the Bahamas.

Dr Jon Dallimore

Dr Jon Dallimore

Expedition specialist and Author

  • MB BS (London), MSc, MRCEM, MRCGP, FFTM RCPS (Glasg), DCH, DRCOG, Dip Mount Med (UIAA)

Jon works as a General Practitioner in Chepstow and a Specialty Doctor in the Emergency Department of Bristol Royal Infirmary. He has been on many expeditions as a doctor and or leader and has spent more than 2 years in the field on various expeditions. These expeditions have been in many different environments – from the deserts of Namibia, Sinai and Northern Kenya to the jungles of Sulawesi, Belize, Thailand and Ecuador. He loves the mountains and has undertaken many high altitude climbs and treks to Nepal, Greenland, Pakistan, Iceland, Morocco, East Africa and the Andes. Jon is an International Mountain Leader, a member of the Alpine Club and has taught on the UK Diploma in Mountain Medicine since 2004. In 2016 Jon became a Director of the International Diploma in Expedition and Wilderness Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

Jon is medical consultant to World Challenge Expeditions and has taught about expedition medicine since 1991. He is the lead editor of the Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine (third edition) and a longstanding member of the Royal Geographical Society’s medical cell.

Since becoming semi-retired, Jon has become the medical officer for Severn Area Rescue Association (involving lifeboats, land searches, cliff, flood and swift water rescue).

Dr Nics Wetherill

DR NICS WETHERILL

Expedition and Polar specialist

  • MBE BM MRCGP DMM DMCC

Nics has been a doctor in the regular army for over 10 years, having been deployed to many remote locations with the military such as Kenya, Canada, Norway, Antarctica, Iraq. Since qualifying as a GP in 2019, she has served with some extreme remote teams, training the medics in advance and providing reachback service.

Since completing the diploma in mountain medicine and medical care in catastrophes, she has recently established a military expedition medicine advisory group. Nics is passionate about using medical knowledge to prevent health issues arising in remote locations, but still having the skills to treat when required; something that has proven invaluable on many mountainous expeditions.

Her unhealthy enthusiasm for cross country skiing and cold locations ultimately led her to creating the first all female team to cross Antarctica in 2018. Since then, Nics’ passions for cold survival and cold conditions has continued to grow, including research and advising other polar teams.

Dr Paddy Mitton

Polar and Mountain specialist

MBBS RCGP DiMM HN

Having successfully ruined my medical career by prioritising climbing, adventure and fun times over work I am convinced that everyone should do the same….

I am an expedition doctor specialising in Polar and Mountain medicine. I have worked in the Himalayas, the Andes and for five seasons in Antarctica. I have also worked as a mountain guide in the greater ranges on and off for over twenty years.

Amongst other expeditions I have recently completed a 2000km traverse of Greenland by snow-kite. Me, my wife and our 2 and 3 year old children spent a year driving overland from Cornwall to Cape Town in our decrepit 26 year old land cruiser.

In the UK I work as a locum in General Practice and Emergency Medicine. I hold the post-graduate UK UIAA/ICAR/ISMM Diploma in Mountain Medicine and am a member of the teaching faculty. I was the
doctor and medical trustee for the Cornwall Search and Rescue Team for several years.

Based in Cornwall, I surf, climb and try to share my love for an adventure with my two children. I am a great believer in the micro as well as the macro adventure.

Dr Lucy Sykes

Dr Lucy Sykes

Research lead and Endurance specialist

  • BM BCh, FRCP, MA (Physiol), MA (Ed)

Lucy has been a consultant stroke physician since 2013, currently working in the departments of Stroke Medicine and Elderly Care at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust.  She was Clinical Lead for Stroke 2015-2018, and Clinical Director for Specialty Medicine 2017-2020 including playing a lead role in the Trust response to the coronavirus pandemic.  Lucy believes in education and empowerment to develop individuals and teams, thereby promoting the provision of excellent evidence-based healthcare.

Since 2011 Lucy has been a part of Wessex-Ghana Stroke Partnership, supporting the development of stroke services to improve patient care at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra.  The partnership facilitated the opening of the first dedicated stroke unit in West Africa and now focusses on disseminating skills and knowledge both nationally and internationally. WGSP is currently developing a new partnership with the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul, Gambia.

As a keen mountaineer, runner and outdoor enthusiast Lucy believes that greater potential can be achieved through connecting with nature, appreciating and redefining capability through adventure.

Zoe Burton

Dr Zoë Burton

Research and Mountain specialist

  • FRCA MSc MBBCh Bsc DTM&H

Zoë is a consultant paediatric anaesthetist at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Her expedition medical work has taken her to Antarctica, the Himalayas, Peruvian Amazon, Kenya and Arctic Svalbard. She has a longstanding interest in improving delivery of anaesthesia in low and middle-income countries which has included volunteering as a Visiting Lecturer in Ethiopia, running anaesthetic conferences in West Africa and working with Operation Smile. Her career path has encompassed extensive trauma and aeromedical work in South Africa and with AMREF’s Flying Doctor service in Kenya. Personal exploration has involved trans-Atlantic sailing, channel swimming, exploring Kyrgyzstan and ski-mountaineering in Spitsbergen.

Dr Holly Andrews

Sports Medicine Specialist

  • MBChB

Holly is an anaesthetics trainee, spreading her career so far across the UK. From Jersey in the Channel Islands to a year in the Southern Alps and now the West of Scotland.

She has been involved in expeditions in the rainforest, with IPPG at altitude in the Himalayas and supported many in their impressive endeavours running ultras in austere environments.

She has volunteered in both a medical and leadership capacity in the European refugee camps and has a strong interest in making medical partnerships in this setting bidirectionally beneficial.

When not working she is found racing triathlon for GB or hunting out new ski touring routes.

Dr Jonathan Milton

Journal Club Lead

  • MBChB, BSc, PGCert (Clinical Education)

Having grown up in the Peak District, Jonny has always spent most of his time in the hills and mountains: running, climbing, skiing and cycling.

Since qualifying as a doctor Jonny has been trying to combine this passion for the outdoors with his academic interests in pre hospital medicine, trauma and expedition medicine.

He has led as a medic on expeditions to Peru, Tanzania and Nepal; developing a keen interest in altitude medicine. He is also a keen educator and regularly teaches on the Remote Medical Responder and Remote and Restorative Medicine courses.

He is currently working as a clinical fellow in Perioperative Medicine alongside completing the Diploma in Mountain Medicine.

In the next year he is working as the medic for an expedition to Island Peak, and is applying for the next stages of his training.

Dr Sophie Redlin

Dr Sophie Redlin

Mental health and Marine specialist

  • BSc (Hons) MBChB MRCGP FRGS FRSA CF

Sophie is a GP with special interests in mental health and remote and wilderness medicine. She has supported a number of expeditions as a doctor, most recently accompanying groups to Antarctica and Costa Rica onboard traditional Tall Ships. Alongside clinical work, Sophie works for the organisation 4 Mental Health Ltd. as a Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Response trainer, delivering teaching to other health and allied health professionals internationally. She also conducts her own research into differing global approaches to emotional wellbeing, most recently through a Churchill Fellowship exploring indigenous attitudes to mental health in the US. Findings from this study have informed the development of a retreat programme supporting health and social care workers suffering from pandemic-related ‘burnout’. Sophie also uses her research and field experiences to inform her teaching on mental health in remote environments, seeking to provide practical and context-specific guidance to expeditions.

When not in the office, Sophie can usually be found behind her camera, hiking a mountain, dipping in cold water or playing the ukulele!

Dr Jack Watson

Safari specialist

  • MBChB(hons) RCGP (2018) MFTM RCPS (Glasg) (2022) IDEWM

Jack is a Cheltenham-based GP and ED Doctor with a special interest in expedition, remote and wilderness medicine. He endeavours to combine his career with his love for adventure, travel and the natural world.

Growing up in Kenya helped to foster his passion for wildlife and wild places. His adventurous spirit was born whilst summiting Mt Kenya on a primary school trip and, with this, came the curse of eternal wanderlust! He is currently involved in the design of an exciting new Endeavour safari skills course with the aim of sharing his obsession for African adventure with others!

Jack was motivated to study medicine after witnessing health and social inequalities as a child in East Africa. This also fostered a keen interest in Global Health. In 2017 he worked for a year in a remote hospital on the border between South Africa and Mozambique. The range of emergency, evacuation and remote medical skills he learnt and developed have proved invaluable in both expedition medicine and during his regular work on remote Scottish Islands such as Shetland and the Outer Hebrides.

His personal travel has taken him to over 100 countries including around the world twice. Driving from the UK to Mongolia, seeing gorillas in the DRC, living and working in New Zealand and hiking in Antarctic Chile.

Luckily, his understanding wife and young children manage to keep his eternally itchy feet under control (mostly!). Parental leave has provided an opportunity for a different kind of adventure- 3 months around Europe in their self-converted off-grid campervan- an expedition with its own unique challenges.

Jack is a qualified Mountain Leader (ML) and holds the International Diploma in Expedition & Wilderness Medicine. He is working towards the International ML, and completing the Diploma in Mountain Medicine. He has been the medic on varied expeditions: on Mt Kilimanjaro and Toubkal; from hiking in China to cycling to Paris; from the High Andes to the Jordanian Desert; and as a Ship Doctor in the Arctic pack ice.

Teaching with Endeavour allows Jack to meet people who are passionate and interested in wilderness medicine, global health and remote travel. He enjoys sharing adventure stories whilst imparting knowledge he has learnt both in the classroom and from his vast personal experience in the field.”

James Moore

RN JAMES MOORE

Jungle Specialist  and Author

  • MSc FFTM RCPS (Glasg) FRGS

After a successful career as an Emergency Department Charge Nurse/Nurse Practitioner here in the UK and overseas, James left the National Health Service to combine previous training and experience and create an independent travel clinic. The Exeter Travel Clinic supports a wide range of companies, charities, individuals and educational establishments.

In conjunction with his colleague Dr Jon Dallimore, five years ago James co-wrote and launched the UKs first post-graduate Diploma in Expedition and Wilderness Medicine. This was based on the British Medical Journal award-winning Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, of which James is a co-editor. With a home in the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, this Diploma attracts Doctors, nurses and paramedics from numerous countries. James is a contributing author to Paul Auerbach’s definitive textbook ‘Wilderness Medicine’, now in its 7 th edition.

Following the successful completion of a Masters’ degree in Global Health from the University of Plymouth, James has been involved in several overseas projects delivering healthcare education in low/middle income countries. Further to this he continues to write articles, both research and educational, on areas such as high-altitude, expedition, wilderness and travel medicine. Most recently he has been a centre lead for the international BRACE trial, investigating links between the BCG vaccine and protection against Covid-19.

As well as running the clinics and Diploma, James teaches expedition medicine to medics and non-medics alike. This work is frequently updated as he continues to provide on-site healthcare on expeditions across the globe. His expeditions have taken him from the jungles of Bolivia, Brazil and Papua New Guinea, to the mountains of Nepal and the length of Africa. He has worked with production companies such as the BBC Natural History Department and National Geographic, private companies, schools and charities.

As a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine James sits on the Executive committee, where he has been involved in the writing of national standards guidelines for the practice of travel medicine. He is a Fellow and member of the medical cell of the Royal Geographical Society, former Secretary of the British Global and Travel Health Association and consults for a number of expedition companies across the UK.

When not working, James enjoys an outdoor life in Devon, where he shares his passion for surfing, wild camping, off-road driving and generally anything non-ordinary with his exhausted family.

Dr Bella FALISZEWSKA

MARKETING LEAD

  • BSc (Hons), MBChB, DipTropMed

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bella has always loved the outdoors and adventure and now she is currently fascinated by all things Global Health. She has worked up and down the UK, from Shetland as a medical student, to Cornwall, where she completed a Clinical Fellow in Global Health and Emergency Medicine. Along the way, she has spent time in Peru volunteering and providing healthcare in prisons and with Venezuelan refugees. She has worked in Kenya on a couple of occasions and is currently part of a small team in South Africa looking at how Conservation can be used to improve healthcare for local communities. In August she will be moving to Panama for 6 months to help provide medical care to remote and indigenous communities.

Bella has a certificate in Climate Change in Healthcare from Yale University and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She is excited about working with Endeavour and hopes that the current and future generations of healthcare professionals can use adventure and nature as a means to stay passionate about their careers!

Beth Norman

EDUCATION HUB LEAD

  • BSc (Hons) | PgCert Clin Ed | MSc | AFHEA

Beth is a physician associate by training with a background in clinical education.

Beth completed an undergraduate degree in Physiological Sciences at the University of Bristol before embarking on a PgDip in Physician Associate studies at the University of Plymouth, graduating in 2017. She has recently completed an MSc top up with the University of Birmingham, focussing on the role of simulation in medical education. Over the last few years, Beth has worked as a lecturer in clinical education at the University of Plymouth, gaining associate fellowship with the Higher Education Academy. She is also Lead Physician Associate at Yeovil District Hospital and works in acute medicine.

In her spare time Beth is a keen climber, cyclist and spent last winter in the French Alps doing a ski season, and even got engaged on an alpine summit! Her favourite place to climb is the Verdon Gorge, followed by a glass of wine to recover from the terror!

Dr Shona Main

Dr Shona Main

  • MBChB BSc

Shona is an Emergency Medicine trainee in the South West. She’s worked on expeditions in the mountains, jungle, desert and at sea and supported sports events around Europe. She led the APEX 4 international altitude research trip and has volunteered on projects in the Philippines, India and Uganda. Now living a UK version of her NZ lifestyle she’s often micro-adventuring with spritely dips at any opportunity or planning trips to the mountains. Writer, editor and now Head of Operations at award-winning magazine Adventure Medic, she looks forward to hearing your tales.

Dr Nathan Hudson-Peacock

Dr Nathan Hudson-Peacock

  • MB BChir MA (Cantab) Prof.DipTH FEWM FRSA FRGS

Dr Nathan Hudson-Peacock is an emergency medicine doctor from London, with interests in expedition medicine and sustainability. Dr Nathan is a holder of the Professional Diploma in Travel Health and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and has provided medical support to numerous expeditions, from high altitude mountaineering in the Himalayas and the Andes, to providing support as a PADI Divemaster and dive doctor to remote parts of West Papua. In January 2022, he is very excited to be providing medical support to a sustainability focused multi-national ocean research expedition to the British Indian Ocean Territory. Nathan is also the founder of Eco Medics, a non-profit startup tackling sustainability within the healthcare industry, and talks regularly on the importance of sustainable behaviours at home, at work and when on expedition.

Dr Alex Reid

Dr Alex Reid

  • MBChB BSc (Hons) PGCE

Alex is a is a winter mountaineering, ski touring and mountain bike instructor working for various organisations including Glenmore Lodge. Holds the highest UK instructional qualifications in winter climbing, mountaineering and ski mountaineering, the Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and Mountain Ski Leader.

Currently based in the Scottish Highlands, mixing a full time role as a Clinical Fellow in Intensive Care, Inverness with freelance instructional work. Previously Alex has worked in small Scottish Rural General Hospitals.

Other clinical highlights were a ski elective on the South Island in New Zealand, based on the ski fields around Queenstown.

Led several expeditions for Outlook Expeditions and World Challenge varying from Malawi to Bolivia, with personal first ascents of mountains in Kyrgyzstan.

George Wells

George Wells

  • George is an explorer and mountaineer.
  • He has extensive experience in polar regions.

Some of George’s expeditions include:

1996    Ecuador and attempt on Aconcagua
1998    Inca mountains expedition – South America
2000    Silk Mountains expedition – Kyrgyzstan
2005    North Pole expedition – speed record with dogs
2015    Catco Greenland expedition – speed record with kites

Annie Vernon

  • OLY

Annie is a two-time World Champion and Olympic silver medallist rower. Following an eight-year career as an elite athlete, during which she went to two Olympic Games (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), she wrote Mind Games: Determination, Doubt and Lucky Socks – An Insider’s Guide to the Psychology of Elite Athletes, winner of the 2020 British Sport Book Awards. She explores the psychology of elite sport through her lived experience and the research for her book, in particular how athletes train their mental skills in exactly the same way that they train their physical skills. She believes that although there are universal principles for how we approach physical training, mental training and performance is unique and bespoke to each individual.

Dr Louise Mallam

  • BMBS BA MPhil MA (Cantab)

Lou is an Anaesthetics Registrar and PADI Divemaster and has worked extensively supporting and leading remote dive expeditions throughout Asia, Central America and the South Pacific. In 2022 she completed a Fellowship at the Dive Diseases Research Centre in Plymouth, which included working as the first point of call for dive emergencies across the UK and delivering medical training for offshore saturation divers and superyacht crews.

Her previous expedition roles include working as the manager of a dive live aboard research boat surveying the Sulawesi Tenggara Province in Indonesia whilst teaching local and international students about sustainable marine conservation. Other overseas experience includes working with displaced Burmese migrants in Thailand, researching child labour in the Bolivian altiplano, climbing Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, providing medical support for a marathon in Nepal, and jungle and altitude trekking in Central and South America.

Prior to retraining as a Doctor, Lou studied Geography at Cambridge University and worked for the United Nations in Geneva, in addition to a very short-lived spell in the finance and corporate world! Lou is passionate about teaching and has previously designed and delivered a Medicine summer camp which nows runs annually for international students in Oxford. She is an ALS and EPALS instructor for RCUK.

Dr Francis Screech

Dr Francis Screech

  • MBChB BSc(Hons)

Francis is currently an expedition emergency medicine fellow in Bristol. Through this role Francis enhanced his academic interest in expedition and extreme medicine as well as joining expeditions to Alpine and altitude environments.

Later this year Francis will complete a charity cycling tour around Uganda to raise money for an HIV/AIDS charity.

Francis brings his experience as a qualified Physiotherapist into the remote medicine sector through offering a dual role as doctor and physio. Francis offers training to individuals in how to prepare and look after their musculoskeletal systems on expedition.

Francis is passionate about the value of expedition medicine and its ability to promote resilience and leadership skills in the NHS workforce. He was recently awarded HEE funding to run an Endeavour Medical Remote and Restorative course for junior doctors in the southwest which was well received and repeated for hospitals throughout the region.

Francis is an outdoor enthusiast and is at his happiest surfing on a wild Cornish beach or on the hunt for fresh powder, high in the mountains.

Dave Dungay

Dave Dungay

  • Msc,  Dip IMC, DTLLS, MCpara

Dave is a paramedic with over 20 years experience in a variety of frontline NHS roles. He was a Hazardous Area Response Team operative required to deliver care in a range of hostile environments working with various rescue and emergency services. Dave spent eight years as a critical care paramedic with the Devon Air Ambulance, where he was also the clinical manager for the last three. He has a wealth of experience delivering prehospital care to the sickest patients in challenging environments. Dave gas recently started a new challenge working in Integrated and Urgent Care in Cornwall.  He holds an Msc in Prehospital Critical Care Retrieval and Transfer (Plymouth University) the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care (RSC Edinburgh) and the Diploma to Teach in the lifelong learning sector (Canterbury Christ church University)

Dave is passionate about education and has held a number of educational posts both within the NHS and for external agencies. His teaching experiences have ranged from taking foundation degree students through overnight exercises on Dartmoor to delivering pre-deployment courses for government agencies. He Guest lectures for Plymouth University on both Bsc and Msc programmes, has contributed to FOAM resources such as PHEMcast and recently edited part of the upcoming edition of the ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine. Dave’s places emphasis on communication and clinical human factor, when delivering education, following his experiences gained in this with Devon Air Ambulance.

Dave is a happily married father of two living in the South West. When not exploring outdoor places with the family Dave will be found chasing waves to surf along the southwest coastline.

Dr Alex Taylor

  • MBChB MSc(IDEWM) DTM&H Summer ML

Alex is an Emergency Medicine registrar in Severn who believes in taking the road less travelled. She is passionate about expedition medicine and global health and recently returned from working as a global health fellow in rural South Africa (and living in a game reserve!) She has also worked as an expedition medicine fellow and in New Zealand.

She holds qualifications in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, Global Health, and Remote Healthcare, and plotting adventures around even the tightest medical roster. She co-authored the chapter in the oxford handbook of sports medicine on expedition medicine, and edits for the website Adventure Medic.

Alex has been teaching as a Wilderness Medicine instructor for 5 years teaching fellow medics, the local mountain rescue service, and lay people.

She has accompanied expeditions on all seven continents. Destinations include Kilimanjaro, Antarctica, the Amazon, Costa Rica, Fiji, the Great Wall of China and most recently skiing in Greenland with youth development charity Polar Academy.

She has a passion for the outdoors and holds Summer Mountain Leader, Advanced PADI, and Competent Crew qualifications. She is an aspiring ski tourer, climber and mountain biker.

Dr Suzy Connor

  • MBChB FRCEM

Suzy is a consultant in Emergency Medicine at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth. She instructs on APLS, is the ED QI lead and is passionate about improving staff well-being.  She is the LMA for Plymouth RNLI and also volunteers for Festival Medical Services.

Suzy lives on the edge of Dartmoor with her 2 girls & husband. She spends her time off cycling, running, swimming ( badly) and crewing on Plymouth Sound.

Suzy and 3 friends set up skiedconference.com, which has been running since 2017. She is often forced into being single hand support crew for her husband on long distance running events!

Rin Passmore

Rin Passmore

  • MSc, PgCert

Rin is both a registered sports dietitian specialising in endurance and expedition nutrition and a HCPC registered paramedic. She has a love for the outdoors and over the years has undertaken her own expeditions from the polar regions to the Himalayas and the tropics of Borneo as well as being a keen runner which has taken her on many a long jaunt including the marathon des sables. This combination of sports nutrition theory, logistics and practical application in the field is what sets Rin apart and has led her to work with ultra-runners, ocean rowers and polar explorers including the Ice Maidens who were the first all female team to cross antarctica in 2018 and finished in top physical condition. Her work with the team has since been published in multiple journals and she has both written and presented on various sports nutrition topics to teams, conferences and budding future explorers. Her passion to enable athletes and explorers achieve their goals is her main drive, whilst working pre-hospitally and of course practicing what she preaches.

Dr Jon Williamson

  • MBChB BSc DipEWM FRCA

Jon is an Anaesthetics Registrar working in London. With a love of all things outdoors, Jon has also completed an International Diploma in Expedition and Wilderness Medicine in 2019. A self-professed collector of hobbies, Jon loves being on land or sea. His favourite experiences in these fields have been: High speed drift dives whilst gaining his Advanced PADI in Komodo, kitesurfing the west coast of Australia; to cycling in the French Alps, trekking up Mera Peak in Nepal, and ski touring by the fjords in Northern Norway.

As well as broad practical experience, Jon has published with the BMJ on Acetazolamide prescription, as well as with the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Jon balances his clinical career with a career in photography, in which he has been sponsored by Nikon Europe for the last 3 years. He combines his love of photography with professional work undertaken in health care related photo-documentary and education, as well as adventure photography. Most recently his work has been published with The Guardian, and he is currently working as Director of Media and Photography on another international online Anaesthetics course being created by a group of central London teaching hospitals.

Jon has a passion for education, and as well as helping create educational courses, regularly teaches as faculty on educational courses in his deanery.

Dr Ben Bennett

  • MBBS BSc MRCP PGCert (Med. Ed.)

Ben is a rheumatology registrar based in North London who escapes the smoky confines of the capital as often as he can to adventure home and abroad in both a personal and professional capacity. With 15 years of experience in alpine mountaineering, his primary interest is in the high-altitude arena and in his free time he can most often be found hiking, climbing or ski touring.

Whilst at university, he assisted in MRI studies investigating high altitude cerebral oedema with the Centre of Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment (CASE) group in University College London and wrote his undergraduate thesis on the pathophysiology of acute mountain sickness. Since qualifying, he has gone on to work as a doctor with charity and youth groups in locations including Kilimanjaro and the Yukon.

He is a passionate educator and when not teaching with Endeavour, he is also involved in postgraduate assessment and medical education within a more conventional medical setting.

Dr Rebecca Boys

  • BSc MBBS

Becky is an adventurous soul with a love for Prehospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) and teaching. Inspired by her trauma elective in Johannesburg and a placement with the Essex and Hertfordshire Air Ambulance, she has embarked on pursuing a career that combines remote medicine/prehospital care with travel.

As a Clinical Fellow, Becky immersed herself in the mountains of Eryri while building on her skills in Emergency Medicine/Critical Care. Following this she undertook an 18 month deployment as a medical officer for the British Antarctic Survey; including time as the ship’s doctor on the RSS Sir David Attenborough (fondly known as BoatyMcboatface) and spending a whole polar winter at the remote research station of Rothera.

Now, Becky sets her sights on the wild Scottish Highlands with the aim of pursuing the Diploma of Mountain Medicine alongside her clinical and expedition work. Outside of this, she is a keen hiker and climber and is soon to complete her Summer Mountain Leader qualification.