Mount Everest base camp medic among victims

EDISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The 7.8 earthquake that struck Saturday in Nepal took the life of Marisa Eve Girawong, a physician assistant killed in an earthquake-triggered avalanche at a Mount Everest base camp, according to Madison Mountaineering, a Seattle-based mountaineering company.

Before leaving to work in Nepal in 2014, the New Jersey township was listed as her place of residence.

Hundreds of people were climbing Mount Everest at the start of the region's climbing season. At least 18 people were reported dead, including Google executive Dan Fredinburg, and another 61 people injured as the search continues on the world's largest mountain.

Saturday's earthquake struck around noon, just over a year after the deadliest avalanche on record hit Everest, killing 16 Sherpa guides April 18, 2014.

The avalanche was said to have begun on Mount Kumori, a 22,966-foot-high mountain just a few miles from Everest. It gathered strength as it headed toward the base camp of Everest.

Madison Mountaineering's website described Girawong as an emergency room physician assistant serving as the team's camp base camp doctor for Everest/Lhoste. Since 2013, she has been involved in expedition medicine training in Scotland as well as participating in wilderness medicine in the Everest region since 2014.

She was an avid rock climber and mountaineer who was pursuing an advanced degree in mountain medicine. Previously, she successfully reached the summits of Mount Washington in New Hampshire and Mount Rainier in Washington, the company's biography said.

On April 12, Girawong posted a photo of herself and Garrett Madison on her Facebook page, writing, "Officially the highest I've been so far at 5,550meters/18,300ft. Never made it last year but finally got to the top of Kala Patthar this year with Garrett Madison."

"Madison began guiding professionally in 1999 on Mount Rainier, and is now America's premier Everest climber and guide," according to his profile on Madison Mountaineering. He, along with the rest of the Madison Mountaineering team is said to have made it back to either the Everest Camp 2 or Gorek Shep, an update on the company's website said.

Madison Mountaineering posted the news on its blog headlined "Our hearts are broken."

"It is with deep sorrow and profound grief that we can confirm the loss of our Everest/Lhotse base camp doctor, Marisa Eve Girawong. Eve perished in the aftermath of the avalanche that struck the base camp area following the devastating Nepal earthquake earlier today," said Madison co-founder Kurt Hunter on the website's post. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Eve and her family and friends."

The company did not release additional information Sunday morning.

Girawong was a 2009 graduate of Rutgers University-Newark College of Arts and Sciences where she majored in biology. According to her LinkedIn profile, she was actively involved in the Chinese Student Organization, coordinating the group's China Nite in 2007 and 2008.

Before joining Madison Mountaineering in April 2014, Girawong worked at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey as an emergency room physician assistant.

"East Orange General Hospital extends our deepest sympathy and prayers to the people of Nepal and the family of Marisa Eve Girawong who previously worked as a physician assistant in our emergency room," said Suzette Robinson, vice president of external affairs at East Orange General Hospital. "We are saddened by the loss of Marisa and the nearly 2,000 people who died as a result of this earthquake that left behind mass devastation and staggering levels of damage."

Girawong also worked as a physician assistant and graduated with honors as a master of medical sciences and physician assistant studies at the St. Francis University in 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile. She was working on a second master's degree and postgraduate diploma in mountain medicine at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.