Fellow Corner

Sonja Eagle, MD
Hometown – Santa Cruz, CA
Undergrad – Cornell University College of Engineering
Medical School – Drexel University College of Medicine
Residency – Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program
Fellowship – Wilderness Medicine at UC San Diego

Why Wilderness Medicine?
Wilderness Medicine is a perfect blend of areas in Emergency Medicine and life that I love – outdoor sports, marine medicine, toxicology, low resource medicine and global health. As an engineer by training, I’ve also always liked the improvisation side of medicine, and Wilderness Medicine is often all about creativity.

Why University of California San Diego?
My favorite topics within Wilderness are marine medicine and natural toxicology, particularly plant and marine toxicology. UCSD’s expertise and connections within both the marine and toxicology worlds made it an awesome fit for me. I’ve been able to complete most of my DiDMM locally, and work with the toxicology department on marine envenomation research. 

What has been your favorite part of fellowship? 
This is such a hard question, but I think ultimately it’s been getting to make connections with so many fun and inspiring Wilderness people – not only the amazing UCSD wilderness crew, but also all the medical students, residents, and other wilderness medicine enthusiasts we teach to and work with. My favorite stand-alone event was probably being a Staff Physician for the International Surfing Association’s World Para Championship, but there are so many close seconds!!

What’s next for you?
I will be staying on to work with the UCSD Division of Wilderness Medicine! I am also finishing up my Diploma in Diving and Marine Medicine and will be working clinically in EM at both UCSD and Kaiser San Diego.