Women doctors set to take center stage at World Extreme Medicine Conference

At the World Extreme Medicine Conference, (http://www.extrememedicineexpo.com/ ) which will take place at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS from Saturday November 25 to Monday November 27 2017, women doctors, medics and endurance athletes will take center stage and inspire fellow extreme medicine practitioners, clinical doctors and the next generation of the medical community.

The Coxless Crew Led By Laura Penhaul Aboard Doris

The conference will bring together specialist medics from a wide range of disciplines, typically outside of a conventional hospital environment – including some of the world’s most respected names in humanitarian, wilderness and pre-hospital medicine.

Speakers include:

Rachel Anderson, an Emergency Medicine Consultant from Edinburgh who has worked in expedition environments at Union Glacier in Antarctica and Mount Everest in Nepal, where she worked for Everest ER for two seasons as a base camp medic. She has previously completed the Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DIMM) and was lead lecturer on a wilderness medical expedition to Aconcagua in 2013 and the Everest Base Camp trek for Expedition Medicine in 2014 and 2017.

Brighton-based Kate Yarrow, the chairman and founder of Doctors For Nepal, a UK charity which improves healthcare in rural Nepal by sponsoring the training of doctors and nurses from impoverished backgrounds in Nepal. She founded DFN in 2008, following two missions with Médecins sans Frontiers (MSF).  Her work in Nepal with MSF and Doctors For Nepal ignited a keen interest in healthcare in the Nepalese mountains, which led her to write and present “Namaste: A Himalayan Journey” – a Hollywood award-winning documentary about healthcare in the Himalayas.

Kate, who is also the clinical lead in west Kent for Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, is passionate about women’s health, both in the UK and in the developing world. She is keen to emphasise and teach the importance of addressing and maintaining women’s health in complex and challenging environments.

Laura Penhaul, a physiotherapist from Cornwall who works at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and has worked with the GB ski team, Paralympic ski and Paralympic summer sports teams.

She specializes in sports injuries – tending to the ripped muscles of Ironman athletes and ultra-marathon runners – and is also an expert on spinal cord injuries. Laura is currently working as the Performance Manager for endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont as he attempts to cycle around the world in 80 days – an unprecedented feat.

Laura also led the all-female ‘Coxless Crew’ in a record-breaking row across the Pacific Ocean on a 257-day journey from the United States to Australia in which they rowed 24 hours a day in two-hour shifts.

Mark Hannaford, founder of conference organizers World Extreme Medicine (http://expeditionmedicine.co.uk/ ) said:

We’re fortunate to have such an inspirational group of women at the World Extreme Medicine Conference this year, and hope that they can help to persuade the next generation of female medics and doctors that there is a broad range of opportunities outside of the traditional clinical career.

Extreme medicine is an area that’s in real growth, and our message to medical professionals is that a traditional clinical career is not the only option any more.  Extreme medicine can offer practitioners in all areas of medicine a portfolio career which opens up a huge number of options for work and adventure.