Rhubarb December 2025

How do you prepare mentally and physically for expeditions where medical support is limited and evacuation might be days away?

anyone considering a career in medicine to go for it. The opportunities are vast.

I work clinically as a GP and emergency medicine doctor which are both specialties where you are able to ‘locum’ easily. This means I am able to take time out of regular NHS work and book shifts when I’m in the UK. This has

This is a really important question and there is often a distinct lack of this preparation in many expeditions.

both pros and cons but has enabled me to balance clinical and expedition work. I was also the clinical lead for a Masters in Global Health which enabled a team of us to develop long term and sustainable health partnerships with the support of an academic institution. This job was also part time which again enabled me to intertwine this with my other roles.

I’ve worked with the Royal Geographical Society for many years and more recently set up my own company Endeavour Medical to provide expedition planning training for

BEYOND TEDDIES

expedition leaders, outdoor enthusiasts and medics stepping into expedition medicine. We deliver training in all aspects of planning and preparation from medical kits, travel health, evacuations and mental preparedness. The physical part is often what is focussed on most when planning a trip, but in reality this is the easy bit. Preparing yourself and the group mentally and ensuring a cohesive team can be much harder. We train for a marathon by having a fitness training plan and incrementally increasing our running distance. We often overlook the mental fitness and training needs that are necessary for any expedition. This autumn we are running a Wellbeing in the Wild event with the RGS in response to a growing need in the outdoor and expedition community for improved mental health on expeditions. We talk about how to develop your own emotional kit list in order to prepare for each individual expedition. On a personal note, my own emotional kit list changed vastly once I had children and needed to navigate being away from them for long periods. Athletes always say ‘train hard, race easy’ and an expedition is no different. If all the preparation is done well, including everything from communication and nutrition to physical and mental training, then the expedition should run as smoothly as possible. You also work in clinical and academic roles back in the UK. How do you juggle those different strands of your work?

What’s next?

Building Endeavour Medical has been a hugely rewarding venture. We have a

An expedition to Arctic Norway where temperatures dropped to -30 degrees!

fantastic team of expedition medics who all love teaching and bringing teams together in our medical and leadership courses. Endeavour has given the opportunity to our younger faculty to take on more of the expedition medic roles and enabled me to spend a little more time teaching and developing courses whilst taking our kids on expeditions of our own. Favourite memory from Teddies? Girls’ sport wasn’t a highly regarded feature when I was at Teddies so winning a lacrosse tournament was a great highlight. Another favourite memory is of a group of us breaking out of Oakthorpe after our final A Levels for a last hurrah. I married my boyfriend from the Upper Sixth, Ed Obolensky, who I was also in Corfe with, so maybe meeting him should also be a highlight!

Medicine is a fantastic career and although the NHS isn’t getting great press at the moment, I’d really encourage

Lucy and Ed celebrating their 20 year wedding anniversary cycling the NC500 of Scotland.

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