tRAINING COURSE OFFICERS
The Training Course Officers are elected officials of the KCL Wilderness Medicine Society.
They are responsible for organising the Training Course, recruiting speakers and teaching delegates.
William Pickles
William graduated with Distinction in MSc Cardiovascular research in 2017, after completing a BSc in Anatomy, Development and Human biology in 2016 both at King’s College London. William pursued his interest in cardiovascular physiology whilst working as a researcher at a BHF-funded stroke research laboratory at KCL, where he investigated the pathophysiology of reperfusion injuries. William is currently in his 4th year of studying medicine.
Outside of studying, William is a keen endurance athlete having competed in numerous fell races in Yorkshire and Shropshire, as well as raising money for charity by running half marathons (Cambridge, Richmond, Stiperstones). Whilst William completed his undergraduate degree he captained the KCL Men’s Lacrosse team and was part of the KCL Triathlon Team and KCL Cycling team. In 2017, William raced in Redbull’s Timelapse race, a 25-hour bike race in Windsor. He completed a 1000+km cycle tour through France in 2020. He also is an avid orienteer, having competed at international competitions in the Alps, the Dolomites and the Scottish Highlands. He is an enthusiastic climber and currently works at a london climbing wall. William has a keen interest in wilderness medicine and attending multiple KCL WMS talks and completed the accredited Wilderness Medicine Training Course last year.
Daisy Blaksley
Daisy is a 4th year graduate medical student at King’s College London. Before studying medicine, Daisy graduated from Durham university with a first class honours in Anthropology. Her experience includes working for Doctors of the World and for the Global Health Film festival. Whilst at Durham she organised university ski trips and academic conferences. Daisy is a keen open water swimmer, cyclist and runner and regularly competes in triathlons. In her university summers Daisy has indulged her love for the outdoors by completing month-long cycles and hikes across the Pyrenees and the Alpes. She has further experience at altitude - spending weeks trekking through the Nepalese Himalayas at up to 5400m, and through the Andes at 4500m. Daisy’s medical interests lie in general practice, emergency medicine and wilderness medicine - which she hopes to explore in a mountain setting during her upcoming overseas elective. She completed the KCL Wilderness Medicine course last year and the 2019 WMS National Student Conference.
Daisy is a keen teacher, working as a peer-to-peer teacher throughout her time at KCL, as a camp leader on children’s summer survival camps and as an A level and GCSE STEM tutor. Additionally, Daisy is committed to widening access and has presented her work at the 2022 STEMHorizons conference along with working as a mentor on the In2Med programme, helping prospective students from under-resourced schools apply for medical school.
Sacha Salamon White
Sacha Salamon White graduated from King’s College London with a first-class honour in biomedical science with a special interest in extreme physiology and cancer biology. Sacha graduated within the top four candidates of his academic year and was shortlisted for the --- prize. Sacha is currently in his fourth year of medicine. Sacha has completed research projects within the fields of perioperative medicine and andrology and has authored a chapter in a medical textbook on intra-operative neuromonitoring. Sacha has recently completed the FAWM accredited King’s College London Wilderness Medicine Training Course.
Outside academia, Sacha is a keen climber and has previously been the captain of the King’s College London Mountaineering Society climbing team and has played a role in organising inter-university climbing competitions. He works as a climbing instructor when he is not studying and is responsible for delivering first aid at his place of work, giving him ample experience in dealing with cuts, scrapes, bruises and breaks. Sacha is also experienced at climbing outdoors and has lead trips with King’s College London Mountaineering Society. Sacha is a keen skier and aspiring mountaineer; he is at home in mountain environments and has experience at altitude having spent several weeks in the Andes between Peru and Bolivia consistently above 4500m.
Muhammed Aadil Aftab
Aadil is a 4th year medical student at King’s College London (KCL) with interests in retrieval and perioperative medicine. After completing the FAWM-accredited WMS course at KCL last year, he now spends his time with the Prehospital Care Programme at KCL and volunteering to help out at annual ALS courses. His past research experience includes Drug Discovery, Complementary and Herbal Medicines, as well as a project with the KCL School of Biomedical Engineering to develop needle-simulating robots. Whilst at King’s, Aadil founded KCL International Medicine Society, a society aimed at educating students on practising medicine abroad in both high- and low-resource settings. He is heavily involved in organising teaching and mock interviews with KCL Medical Education and Research Journal Society, and as a KCLevate mentor this year, assisted prospective students from under-funded schools with their applications for medical school.
During his free time, Aadil enjoys climbing, surfing, sailing, paddleboarding and a range of other water sports except for swimming. One day he would love to join the Doctors Without Borders team and explore the world whilst caring for people who need it the most.