Ashley Beller hails from Missoula, Montana and will graduate this spring from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, where she developed an interest in rural medicine participating in the ROME track in Hettinger, ND. Many of us remember Ashley from her rotation here last year and welcome her back to Billings. She is interested in care for the underserved, social justice, wilderness and international medicine and has spent two months this year in clinical rotations in Cameroon, Africa. Her interests include climbing, hiking, fly-fishing, quilting and playing the cello.

Sarah Borge grew up in Conrad, Montana and will graduate from the University of Minnesota this spring where she was the recipient of the Gold Humanism Award. During medical school, Sarah took one year off to travel and study in Ecuador and Chile, continuing her global interests that began with international volunteer work in college. She is an avid hiker and backpacker who led wilderness trips for children in summer camp in the Flathead for 5 summers and hiked nearly 200 miles between first and second year of medical school. She is also interested in sports, running, reading and traveling.

Lindsay Carlson is from Federal Way, Washington and graduates from the University of Washington. During medical school, Lindsay did a summer R/UOP project in Anaconda and spent her third year of medical school in the WRITE track in Lewistown. We are happy to help her return once again to Montana. Lindsay has widely traveled, spending 6 months working and teaching in Angola during college and time in South Africa during medical school. Her interests include snowboarding, hiking, rock-climbing and just getting outside.

Margaret Kosnar will join us from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she also grew up. After completing her undergraduate degree in public health, Margaret joined the Peace Corps where she worked as a rural community development volunteer in Togo, West Africa. She spent an additional year backpacking around Southern and Northern Africa before helping create a girl's empowerment program in Togo. Margaret has also led a wilderness trail crew in Maine and worked as a wilderness ranger on Mount Hood. During medical school, Margaret was awarded a one-year Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship where she studied alternative methods of predicting heart failure exacerbations. Her research interests include heart failure, diabetes, and the intersection of literacy and health outcomes. Outside of medicine, Margaret enjoys travel, backpacking, trail running, pot-luck dinners, spending time with family, and trying to convince her daughter that there are other literary luminaries besides Elmo.

Thea Petersen grew up in Colfax, Washington and will graduate from the University of Washington. During medical school she was active in intramural sports including volleyball, softball and inner-tube basketball, continuing her love for team sports. She enjoys traveling and studied abroad in Ecuador during college and did a two-month subinternship at a hospital in Tanzania this spring. Her grandfather - also a physician - helped to found this same hospital during his years spent in Tanzania. She also enjoys outdoor activities including camping, hiking and cross country skiing.

Katie Woods is from Bozeman, Montana and attended the University of Washington School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, she worked as a ranger in Yellowstone National Park, traveled extensively to places such as Nepal, Morocco, Peru, and Guatemala, and also taught English in Germany for a year. Her goal in Medicine is to care for underserved populations both nationally and internationally. She speaks Spanish, German, and French. She holds a Master's degree in Education. She enjoys hiking, running, traveling, skiing, visual arts, wood-working, and spending time with her husband, two-year old son and, very soon, their second child.