Expedition Doctor
Doctor and soldier with a penchant for storytelling guides future emergency physicians.
UND Director of Emergency Medicine Jon Solberg, ’06, a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and Academy of Wilderness Medicine, captures students’ attention with storytelling.
His favorite tale? Not braving Greenland’s white darkness, and not traversing the scorching deserts of Africa. His most-often told tale starts much closer to home.
“I was at Lake Metigoshe (in northern North Dakota) when somebody was severely injured on the water,” he tells first-year medical students. “Nobody knew what to do, but everybody knew I was going to medical school, so they asked me to help. We rushed him in a pickup at 100 mph through winding Turtle Mountain roads.”
Jon said they endangered others on the roads and risked further injury to the friend. “It was that instance that I said, ‘I don’t ever want to be the doctor that doesn’t know what to do in an emergency.’”
Jon Solberg, '06, teaches wilderness medicine classes.
From Farming to Medicine
While studying agriculture at NDSU, a summer experience watching a hip surgery motivated Jon to change his major.
But it wasn’t until he was nearly through medical school that he first left the country, traveling to Cameroon for a rotation. “I fell in love with travel, working in an austere environment, and thinking outside the box. All the medicines are different; they’re behind the times. That’s what started it.”
From there, Jon’s travel exploded. After being selected to do an extended rural medicine training program (Rural Opportunities in Medical Education, or ROME) in Williston, North Dakota, he enlisted in the military. During basic training and residency, he expanded his emergency, wilderness, and combat medicine skills. He also learned to climb mountains, scuba dive, sail, and earned his pilot’s license.
Adventures and Overland Journeys
While deployed in Afghanistan, Jon discovered the Overland Journal, a magazine about adventure travel. He emailed the editor, and soon became a contributing writer, sharing first-aid tips for expedition enthusiasts.
Years later, Greg Miller, then Chancellor of the Utah Jazz and an Overland Journal reader, invited Jon on an unprecedented journey across Greenland. A seven-man team endured -30 to -40°F and total white-outs, “white darkness,” while driving nonstop for a month to reach the farthest point north by motor vehicle.
Jon has since served as the medical doctor on numerous expeditions, most recently with Expedition Overland and TV, a Montana-based film production company. He has ventured to the farthest points north and west in Alaska, and to South Africa, through Botswana and the Kalahari Desert into Lesotho. Ironically, Jon’s most significant rescue mission was for himself. “I got pretty sick in Africa last time. I thought I had malaria.” He eventually recovered at a hospital six hours from camp.
Everywhere I go, especially in the military, mentioning UND and North Dakota instantly earns trust and responsibility.Jon Solberg, '06
At Home in North Dakota
Six years ago, Jon helped establish the UND Emergency Medicine Department with the goal of increasing the number of ER doctors in North Dakota. He now leads several emergency medicine seminars each year; 15 students are currently training to be ER doctors – a significant increase since the program’s inception.
Jon recently co-taught a first aid and survival course for small aircraft pilots. He expected five participants; 27 showed. He’s now working on offering the class to UND Aviation students. This spring, he will lead the first-ever month-long wilderness medicine elective, which will culminate with students organizing and delivering their own wilderness first aid course to community members.
He now travels on expeditions every other year. “It’s tough to be a family guy and be gone for a month and find things to do where our schedules align,” Jon said. Jon and his wife, a radiologist, and their three children practice martial arts together. Jon is testing for his second-degree black belt this fall.
No matter where he goes, Jon always returns to that lesson he learned before starting med school. “I tell students, ‘You’re going to be somewhere in your life – a baseball game for your kid, a concert where there’s a shooting, a car accident – and somebody will look to you for help. You need to know what to do in the first 10 or 15 minutes.’ I can teach them all of that in three days.”
Bringing his experiences back to UND is the most rewarding part of Jon’s journey. “UND opened so many doors. Everywhere I go, especially in the military, mentioning UND and North Dakota instantly earns trust and responsibility.”
