Physician, Author, Adventurer: Jonathan Reisman, MD ’10, Practices ‘Wilderness Medicine’ All Over the World to Provide Compassionate Care
Jonathan Reisman, MD ’10, has practiced medicine in some of the world’s most remote places, including the Russian and Alaskan Arctic, Antarctica, at high altitude in Nepal, rural Appalachia, the urban slums of Kolkata, India, and among the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota.
“While studying at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, I became fascinated with the human body, and I saw a lot of overlap with my interests in the natural world, travel, and different cultures. The process of exploring nature just felt like exploring the human body,” says Dr. Reisman.
Continuing with the theme of medicine overlapping with his other interests, in 2019 Dr. Reisman teamed up with friend and chef Ari Miller to conduct an “Anatomy Eats” demonstration dinner series. During one of the events, Chef Ari prepared beef heart tartare and served to all in attendance, while Dr. Reisman pointed out parts of the heart as it was dissected.
Says Dr. Reisman, “At ‘Anatomy Eats,’ we assume attendees are into odd foods and not squeamish; otherwise, they wouldn’t attend. So, we don’t hold back. Ari handles the culinary side, while I discuss health and disease and explain how the anatomy and physiology perspectives relate.”
He continues, “We’re living in a golden age where everyone is interested in eating weird things. It’s great. I feel like the American diet was so boring for such a long time and now we’re seeing that change.”
Dr. Reisman’s interest in the natural world and his desire to see more of the world began while pursuing his undergraduate degree at New York University.
Dr. Reisman remembers, “It was tough to develop that interest being in Manhattan. I considered dropping out to travel. But my parents convinced me to stay, and I graduated in two years studying philosophy and majoring in math. It was the right decision.”
Following graduation, Dr. Reisman lived in Russia for a year and a half, including several months spent traveling on the Kamchatka Peninsula, while studying the international environmental movement and how it came to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was during this time that he decided to make the leap to medical school. He explains, “I thought being a doctor would combine my two favorite things: intellectual problem solving and working with my hands.”
The desire to serve grew deeper and led to a one-year hiatus between his third and fourth years of medical school to take on medical work in India for six months. While in India, he worked for a medical and educational charity called Calcutta Rescue. After his return to the United States in 2009, he started a support group for them to raise money for their mission.
This experience was followed by a wilderness medicine course in Belize for a month, which led to a job as a ship doctor in Antarctica and the Russian Arctic, and in a high-altitude medical clinic in Nepal. Dr. Reisman particularly appreciates the challenges that come with “wilderness medicine,” which involves providing medical care far from any healthcare infrastructure or hospitals.
During his combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, he truly began pairing his medical work with travel. Dr. Reisman was involved in global health research in Tanzania and led an infectious disease research project in Alaska, while also making time to go whale hunting in Barrow with a group of Inupiat Eskimos.
I try to get around, and being a doctor provides so many amazing opportunities to see the ends of the earth, but also to help people wherever you go.
Living with a global pandemic and parenting two young children with his wife, Anna—Kai (4) and Sierra (1)—has brought traveling to an abrupt halt.
“Needless to say, in the last two years, I have not gone on as many adventures as I did in the past. But there is the promise as my children grow up a little more that I will be able to get back out there again,” he says.
Most recently, Dr. Reisman published a book—10 years in the making—entitled The Unseen Body, where he takes readers on a journey into the human body, and into the training of a physician while examining the health care system as a whole. He’s also written offbeat medical essays for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, and Discover magazine.
A boy who grew up never hunting or indulging in unique delicacies, and not traveling particularly often, has developed into a giving physician who seamlessly pairs medicine with meals, likens the human body to world exploration, and has contributed weeks upon months of philanthropic work on six out of the seven continents of the world. While Dr. Reisman hopes to visit one day, he has not taken his talents to Australia just yet, and it is not even first on his list of places to visit once he is able.
A stint as a doctor at Mt. Everest Base Camp holds that No. 1 spot. The camps are sponsored by Everest ER and provide compassionate, high-quality health care and preventative education to the climbing community. Dr. Reisman has been invited to work there but, due to family commitments, has not yet been able to attend.
He shares, “I personally wouldn’t try to get to the top; I think it’s crazy. But I enjoy being a part of that kind of expedition and mission providing medical care, and doing my part to help others reach their goal.”