A life in medicine.
Then the patient.
M. Scott Mortensen, MD, MPAS, PA-C. MD researcher. PA-C clinician. Founder, clinical director, principal investigator. There is no residency in proactive health, so he built the practice as one.
Teenage EMT. Then the North Slope.
Teenage EMT in 1995. Lifeguard, structure-fire entry in California, then north to the North Slope Borough Fire Department in Alaska: fixed-wing medevac out of the most unforgiving conditions on earth, where pilots carried sidearms because polar bears patrolled the runways. Airway emergencies in minus-forty crosswinds, neonatal resuscitations at altitude, ventilators aboard a six-seat plane in a katabatic storm. Paramedic, flight medic, fire captain, search and rescue.
He summited.
It taught him what the body does at the edge, and what gets it back.
Four men. One rowboat.
A thousand miles of frozen ocean between Inuvik, Canada and Point Hope, Alaska. Forty-one days through blizzards, ice floes and fog. He was the team's chief medical officer. Guinness called it a world record. Outside called it insane. He called it mostly cold.
Eight countries. Twenty thousand volunteer hours.
A decade on the board of Heart Ventures, a 501(c)(3). Healthcare development in Honduras, Fiji, Tanzania, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and the United States. Post-quake relief in Haiti. The Siloé Clinic in Mexico. Training first responders across the Alaskan bush. A bicycle across the United States to fund nonprofits. A paddle from Oahu to Kauai for autism awareness. Thirty thousand patient contact hours.
No skipped steps.
PA-C in 2018. MD in 2025, cum laude, with research and scholarly distinction.
He is the research.
Myocarditis, then brain fog, then Guillain-Barré, the AMAN and Miller Fisher variants, an autoimmune attack on his own nervous system. Ninety percent paralyzed. He spent a year using the tools he had prescribed to others, hyperbaric oxygen, plasmapheresis, cell therapy and the fundamentals, to recover.
After thirty years of pulling people back from the edge, he became the patient. The best doctor keeps you out of the hospital in the first place.
Founder. Clinician. Principal investigator.
Founder and clinical director of Mortensen Medical, a 501(c)(3) in Thousand Oaks serving veterans, first responders and the uninsured. Principal investigator on registry protocol PPRN-001-2025. Author of The Cockroach Diet. Builder of the Killer Health knowledge base and the Malibu Wellness Retreat. Master's in Learning Technologies with a published thesis on social entrepreneurship.
"Make everyone around you better." A good teammate is one who helps each individual perform better. As a patient, you are part of the team. No client is too big or too small.
Cliffs, oceans, islands.
The same appetite for the edge, minus the pager.
MD researcher.
The medical degree, earned cum laude in 2025, is the research credential: principal investigator on PPRN-001-2025, author, the person who reads the primary literature so the clinic does not have to guess.
PA-C clinician.
Licensed physician associate since 2018. That is the license he sees patients under, and he says so plainly. No residency exists for proactive health. That is all this clinic does.
On-set medical consultant for film and commercial productions including The Outpost, Tin Soldier and The Waterman; clients have included Nike, Warner Bros., Sundance Channel and Stand Up To Cancer. Field work with the American Red Cross and Samaritan's Purse.
Elaine Marquez Mortensen, ND
Medical directorRhythmic bioidentical hormone replacement for women, PRP and injection medicine, biofeedback, and the functional cases everyone else gave up on. She does the bloodwork herself.
Kaveh Newmen, Esq.
Counsel, Newmen Law, P.C.One of the quiet authorities on peptide regulation, 503A and 503B compounding, and the structures that let this work happen in daylight.
Pamela Liebenthal
Office manager and registry coordinatorThe person who answers when you call.