Christian Purgason is a board certified emergency medicine physician at a busy Level II trauma center and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM). During medical school, Christian trained in Wilderness Medicine through the Wilderness Medical Society’s month-long elective and participated in high altitude research and medical care in the Himalayan Mountains, Nepal. Currently, Christian teaches medical students and residents in the emergency department and staffs and trains sports medicine fellows at a local ski resort clinic in the Lake Tahoe area where he sees a significant amount of snow sports related injuries. Christian has instructed for various University outdoor recreation programs, worked as a professional river guide/trip leader and white water kayak instructor, professional ski patroller, a Volunteer Doctor Ski Patroller and for an EMS agency as a pre-hospital care provider. Christian did his undergraduate education at University of Colorado Boulder, medical school at Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and Residency in Emergency Medicine with an emphasis on Wilderness Medicine at UCSF- Fresno.