Dr. Sarah Spelsberg serves as the Director of U.S. Operations for World Extreme Medicine, the medical lead for Project NEPTUNE 100, works part time in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic where she holds the academic rank of Assistant Professor and is a Wilderness Emergency Medicine physician. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM), a Fellow of Extreme and Wilderness Medicine (FEWM), and a Fellow National of The Explorers Club. She has extensive experience working in the Emergency Department of the IFHS Clinic on Unalaska/Dutch Harbor in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands (famed for the TV show Deadliest Catch) and recently spent three and a half months in the South Pacific Ocean working as part of the medical crew for the CBS SEG Production’s television show Survivor.

Sarah is a co-author of several frequently cited articles, two book chapters, and serves as the Expedition Medicine Column Editor for the Wilderness Medicine Magazine. She is also the creator of the blog Rogue Medical. She has been featured by major outlets such as the BBC, The New Yorker, and Science Friday. She serves on the FAWM Committee for the Wilderness Medical Society and the HIT Committee for the American College of Emergency Physicians. Recognized as a “Hometown Hero” by the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard in 2020, she has volunteered in critical medevac missions in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, caring for ill patients aboard Coast Guard C-130s and helicopter teams. Sarah’s passions include Extreme Wilderness Emergency Medicine, Sports Medicine, and Orthopedics, and she thrives in outdoor settings. Her ongoing research interests focus on wound care innovations for the backcountry, Dive Medicine, Hyperbaric Medicine, Tropical Medicine, Parabolic Flight, Biometric Monitoring in Extreme Environments, and climate-related health issues.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Medical Doctorate from Saint James School of Medicine and is completing her final year of Emergency Medicine Residency at UNC Health Southeastern to be Board Certified in Emergency Medicine.