Sawyer Alberi is lead instructor for RISC and Wilderness Medical Associates. Alberi served two tours as a member of the Vermont National Guard, first as a Flight Medic in Iraq in 2006 and again in 2010 as a Combat Medic and female engagement team leader in Afghanistan. Alberi is an EMT-P (paramedic) and graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy. She has a Masters in Leadership Education and is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at UNE. She has also worked for UN forces and within the US military on increasing awareness of gender diversity.

RISC (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues) is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency medical training to freelance conflict journalists. Journalist Sebastian Junger founded RISC in 2011 after his close friend and colleague, acclaimed photographer Tim Hetherington, died from wounds he suffered in a mortar attack while covering the conflict in Libya. Since its launch in 2012, RISC has trained 240 freelance photographers, filmmakers and print reporters who work in dangerous and remote areas around the world. The RISC course is four days long and focuses on the four most common preventable deaths on the battlefield, according to U.S. military research: hemorrhage, blocked airway, tension pneumothorax and hypothermia. We provide each of our graduates with a comprehensive medical kit to carry into the field. Through donations and grants RISC covers participants’ instruction fees, lodging, and all associated costs for the courses. Qualified freelance journalists accepted to the course are only responsible for their travel and meals.