Justin Gardner, D.O., FAWM, DiMM

Justin is the founder and director of the VTC Wilderness Medicine Journal Club Series. Justin graduated from WVSOM in Lewisburg, WV and completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Henry Ford Macomb hospital in Clinton Township, MI, followed by a Wilderness Medicine fellowship with Carilion Clinic. He is now faculty with the Carilion Wilderness Medicine fellowship and Clinical Preceptor with VTCSOM.

Justin is an AWLS, WFA, and ACA River Safety and Rescue instructor. Justin has completed his FAWM (Matterhorn) and DiMM through the WMS and is pursuing the DiDMM program. He is an SSI Master Diver. He is the current chair of the WMS Student/Resident Education Committee.  He has completed his AIARE level 1 course and plans to take the AIARE Avalanche Rescue moving forward.

He hopes to increase cooperation among wilderness medicine groups and make it easier for students and residents to access wilderness medicine training. Justin enjoys mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, camping, snowboarding, SCUBA diving, and adventures with his two dogs.

Stephanie Lareau, M.D., FAWM, FACEP, DiMM, DiDMM

Dr. Lareau is an Emergency Medicine physician at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia and associate professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She is the medical director for the ED at Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital. She completed a Wilderness Medicine fellowship at Georgia Health Sciences and completed her EM residency and medical school at Wake Forest University. She is the Wilderness Medicine fellowship director at VT-Carilion.

Dr. Lareau earned the fellowship of Wilderness Medicine and diploma in Mountain Medicine. She is a member of the WMS board of directors. She also serves as WMS DiMM faculty and as a director for the WMS Student/Resident Elective in Virginia and the VTC/Radford WM Student Elective. 

Her research interests include injuries in endurance mountain biking races, the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation in WM education, student WM elective curriculum and Lyme disease within southwest Virginia. She is the education section editor for the Journal of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. She is a certified level 4 river safety and rescue instructor through the ACA. She is an AWLS course director and instructor. She is also a WFA and CPR/AED instructor through ECSI and a dive physician through UHMS/NOAA. She has earned a diploma in Dive and Marine Medicine from the WMS. Outdoors, Dr. Lareau enjoys mountain biking, sailing, paddling, rock climbing, skiing and SCUBA diving with her husband and dog.

TJ Malik, D.O., M.S.

TJ Malik grew up near the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California. He studied Molecular Biology at UCLA, conducted research in New York, and pursued a master's degree in Illinois. Later, he worked as a scribe for ER doctors in California's wine country, where he discovered a passion for climbing the massive trees of northern california and through that, was led to indoor rock climbing. During medical school in South Florida, he found time for outdoor rock climbing in Kentucky, Tennessee, California, Nevada, Ontario, Cuba, and Puerto Rico but also developed his tree climbing on the world class banyans and ficuses around fort lauderdale. Completing his Emergency Medicine Residency in Harlem, New York, TJ developed his traditional climbing skills and taught friends to climb at The Gunks. Now, driven by his passion for the outdoors, TJ joined The VTC Wilderness Medicine Fellowship to develop his backpacking, alpine, white water and rescue skills; to meet like minded people to adventure with and to gain teaching experience. He's excited to earn his DiMM and continue learning while pursuing his love for climbing and outdoor exploration. 

Bri Bennett, M.D.

Bri attended medical school at The Medical College of Georgia and completed residency at Virginia Tech Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia. They found their passion for wilderness medicine during an elective as a first year medical student. Bri's main outdoor interests include rock climbing, caving, and hiking/backpacking with their dog, Denna. In Bri's free time, you can find them gardening, reading a book, climbing at the rock gym, or practicing aerial arts. They love teaching and want to work with local communities to improve outdoor safety and skills. Bri was a MedWAR director and racer during medical school, and they have helped create Blue Ridge MedWAR in Roanoke, VA. During fellowship, Bri plans to complete the FAWM and DiMM. Bri's interests for fellowship are technical rescue, environmental health and advocacy, and event medicine. 

Janel Mathews, M.D. MPH

Janel completed her undergraduate studies at Youngstown State University and graduated from medical school at NEOMED. In medical school, she also completed an MPH to pursue her interest in improving healthcare access. She completed her family medicine residency at Bethesda Family Practice in Cincinnati, OH, where she served as chief resident. She stayed in Cincinnati to complete her sports medicine fellowship at Trihealth, where she enjoyed providing medical coverage for sporting events at the high school and collegiate levels. While in sports medicine fellowship, she had the opportunity to experience wilderness medicine while working with a talented ski patrol in Leadville, CO. This experience inspired her to pursue wilderness medicine as it is an intersection of her deep love for the outdoors and healthcare. 

Janel looks forward to working toward her DiMM, DiDMM, and FAWM during her fellowship. She is passionate about promoting access to outdoor recreation and teaching outdoor safety, and also looks forward to giving back in the realm of medical education. Her professional interests include endurance race medicine, altitude medicine, and exercise as medicine. In her free time, you can find her out adventuring on a new hiking trail.

Christine Schwartz, M.D.

Christine came to Virginia from the midwest. She completed her undergraduate and medical schooling at the University of Iowa, then moved 1 state down to Missouri for IM residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Christine re-discovered wilderness medicine through her passion for space exploration. She has been an active member of the aerospace medicine community and loved her experience as a NASA intern where she hopes to work someday as a flight surgeon. She is focusing her fellowship on diving and altitude medicine with the goal of obtaining a FAWM and DiDMM distinction. She is working on becoming rescue diver certified and obtaining a private pilot's license. She is looking forward to traveling to Nepal, learning EM and wilderness skills, and exploring new hobbies during fellowship excursions. 

Jenice Palachick, CRNP

Jenice completed her undergraduate studies at Pennsylvania College of Technology and her RN-BSN at University of Maryland School of Nursing. She worked in critical care/emergency medicine in inner city Baltimore before obtaining her MSN at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in family medicine. Jenice worked in several rural family medicine practices before deciding to pursue a fellowship in wilderness medicine. She is currently working toward her DiMM as well. 

Jenice has always had a passion for the outdoors and enjoys hiking, backpacking, cycling and anything that involves being outdoors. She also is an avid gardener, homesteader and beekeeper. She also loves to travel and looks forward to traveling after the fellowship to work in austere environments to bring care to those who have very little access to medical services.