Since 2010, the Boettcher Foundation’s Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program has provided powerful lines of support to young researchers across the University of Colorado and beyond. This year will see the assembling of a seventh cohort of Boettcher Investigators.
A college emergency medical technician (EMT) class that became a summer job led Christopher Davis to medical school and his current position as assistant professor of emergency medicine and the medical director of Altitude and Mountain Medicine Consultants. That summer job – working as an EMT for the Appalachian Mountain Club at a backcountry hut – was an inspiring exposure to medicine and wilderness care. One unforgettable moment was watching a doctor treating a patient at the hut who was in cardiac arrest. The doctor was having trouble adequately ventilating the patient. After several attempts, the doctor improvised – a key to wilderness medicine – by using his CamelBak to make an airway into the patient’s throat.
