Join us for Medicine at 50 Below book presentation and signing with advanced nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, and founder of Wilderness Medical Staffing Mary Ellen Doty, M.S.
A Nurse Practitioner’s Story of Grit, Care, and Innovation
In today’s medical world, burnout is rising and rural clinics are left understaffed, and many clinicians feel trapped in a system that has forgotten its purpose. Professionals try cutting hours, switching jobs, even turning to corporate locum tenens agencies—only to find the same disillusionment waiting for them. The frustration is real: exhaustion, moral injury, and the sense that the heart of medicine is slipping away.
But there is another path—one discovered in the most unlikely place: the remote villages of bush Alaska, where temperatures plunge to 50 below and a single clinician may stand
between a community and catastrophe.
Medicine at 50 Below offers a different path. By sharing her years as a nurse practitioner in bush Alaska where she was often the only provider for hundreds of miles, Mary Ellen Doty reveals how reconnecting with purpose and autonomy can revive both the clinician and the communities they serve. Her experience led to the creation of Wilderness Medical Staffing, now staffing more than 150 rural and remote clinics with physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants seeking meaningful work.
Mary Ellen writes with clarity, humility, and a deep respect for Alaska’s people and land. Her purpose is simple: Show readers that there are solutions for rural healthcare and that there is a way for clinicians to reclaim the meaning they thought was gone.
About The Author
MARY ELLEN DOTY is an advanced nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, and the founder of Wilderness Medical Staffing, one of the most respected medical staffing companies serving rural and remote communities across Alaska and the American West. She built her career where most medical professionals never set foot—far off the road system, in isolated bush villages where temperatures plunge to 50 below and healthcare is often scarce or nonexistent. With decades of experience in frontline medicine, Mary Ellen is driven by a simple mission: to bring high-quality, purpose-driven healthcare to communities long overlooked by the traditional system. After witnessing the realities of rural and reservation healthcare firsthand, she created a rotational staffing model that delivers experienced, motivated clinicians to the communities that need them most—and still gives those clinicians a meaningful, balanced way to practice. Today, Wilderness Medical Staffing has served more than 150 clinic sites, saving hundreds of lives and easing the suffering of thousands. Mary Ellen earned her bachelor’s degree from Montana State University and her master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has presented at the American Association of Nurse Practitioners’ national convention in New Orleans and served as an international speaker in Melbourne, Australia. She is also the primary contributor to the Wilderness Medical Staffing blog, where she writes about rural healthcare, staffing challenges, and the human side of medicine. Born in Montana, Mary Ellen spent 19 years living and working in bush Alaska before returning home, where she now lives 20 miles out of town with her sassy border collie, Jack. She’s an avid hiker, a country woman at heart, a student of Carl Jung’s work, and a woman of faith.
Learn more about her work and connect at maryellendoty.com or wildernessmedicalstaffing.com.
You may also like the following events from Stillwater County Library:
- Next Wednesday, 11th March, 10:30 am, Storytime in Columbus
- Next Wednesday, 11th March, 01:00 pm, Adult Craft in Columbus
- Next Thursday, 12th March, 04:00 pm, Short Story Club in Columbus, Montana
Also check out other
Business events in Columbus,
Arts events in Columbus,
Literary Art events in Columbus.
