We are the Team
Led by Women
PD.Dr. med Monika Brodmann
Maeder
Lead Organizer
Monika Brodmann Maeder is a specialist in general internal medicine and emergency medicine with a significant focus on high altitude and mountain medicine. Her research has centered on accidental hypothermia and altitude-related health problems, conducted notably as a senior researcher at EURAC’s Institute for Mountain Emergency Medicine (2015–2021). Her mountaineering and expedition achievements include leading the Sisters’ Expedition to Dhaulagiri VII in Nepal (2011), being part of the Swiss Medical Expedition to Skyang Kangri in Pakistan (1999). She also worked extensively as an alpine emergency physician with rega Swiss Air Rescue between 1998 and 2012 and has educated helicopter rescuers in Nepal.
Currently, Monika is President of the Swiss Institute of Medical Education (since 2021), Head of the Swiss Delegation at the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS), university lecturer at ETH Zurich and University of Bern, and former President of the International Society of Mountain Medicine.
Linda Keyes, MD
Scientific Organizer
Dr Keyes is a board-certified emergency physician, a vice-president of the International Society of Mountain Medicine and past-president of the Wilderness Medical Society. Since she was a Yale medical student, she has travelled the globe in pursuit of science. She has partnered with researchers and clinicians on five continents to understand the effects of high altitude on the human body. She challenges norms and advocates for gender equity in all aspects of life. She strives to create positive change through collaboration and inspiring others to achieve. The mountains are her happy place. She believes in wilderness as medicine and in conservation for the health of the planet.
Martha Tissot van Patot, Ph.D.
Scientific Organizer
Martha is a cardiovascular and pulmonary physiologist with extensive experience investigating high altitude and the role of hypoxia in physiology and pathophysiology. Pregnancy at high altitudes is one of her subspecialties, which led her to recognize the scarcity of information on how women adapt and acclimatize to high altitudes. She completed her Ph.D. in 1994 when the idea of being part of an international team of female investigators discovering how women of different ages and cultural backgrounds respond to acute ascent to altitude was unimaginable. She is thrilled and honored to be part of such an important scientific advancement.
Lhakpa Phuti Sherpa
Expedition Organizer
Lhakpa Phuti is a mountaineer, philanthropist, author, and tourism professional. She is the former president and executive director of the Nepal Mountain Academy and was the Deputy Team Leader of the Nepal Women's Expedition to Everest, which was led by Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first Nepalese woman to climb Mount Everest. She is a pioneer in developing mountaineering and tourism in Nepal and runs the mountaineering tourism company Luxury DMC (https://luxurydmcnepal.com).
Silvia Chaulagain, MSc
Researcher, Nepal
Silvia is a researcher from Nepal, she completed her MSc in Public Health from the University of Southampton in 2021 and since then she has been involved in several research to generate evidence on girl's and women's health in Nepal with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive health. She is passionate about improving women’s health through evidence-based interventions, and is excited to be part of this pioneering research exploring women’s health at high altitude for the first time.
Our Advisory Board Members
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Max Gassmann, DVM, Ph.D
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Lorna Moore, Ph.D
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Susi Kriemler, MD
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Ben Levine, MD, FACC
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Buddha Basnyat, MD
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Rob Roach
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Phil Ainslie, Ph.D
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Sanjeev Bhandari, MD
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Peter Hackett