The team
Built by operators, clinicians and organisers.
The difference is not only medical experience. It is operational ownership.
The difference
An operator on both sides of the table.
Most event medical providers approach operations from the clinical side alone. GEM also understands the organiser’s side: duty of care, logistics, financial exposure, the responsibility when conditions deteriorate. That perspective changes the plan.
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The organiser's view changes the plan
Movement, extraction timings, comms resilience, checkpoint operations, staffing pressure, escalation, continuity. The people designing the system have carried those responsibilities themselves.
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Clinical standards remain uncompromising
Operational understanding does not replace medical quality. Expedition and remote medicine experience, structured governance, deployed capability, clinically credible leadership.
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The whole operation matters
An organiser-owned medical operation plans for the entire undertaking, not simply the casualty. The difference shows long before the event begins.
The team on deployment
The same people, every season.
GEM deploys clinicians and risk operatives who return season after season, to the same standard, on the same events. Continuity is part of the cover: the people who wrote the plan are the people who run it.
Who runs GEM
The people behind the operation.
GEM is run by a board of directors, an operational leadership team and non-executive directors.
Directors
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Dr Daniel Bunce
Medical Director
Medical Director and co-owner. Holds the clinical standard across every GEM deployment: governance, protocols, SOPs and the review after every event. With Dr Gagg, provides 24/7 remote senior clinical support to teams in the field. GP background spanning emergency, sports, expedition, and remote medicine. Former Medical Officer with Exmoor Search and Rescue. Registered with the College of Physicians & Surgeons of British Columbia and the General Medical Council, UK.
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James Bartlett
Operations Director
Operations Director and co-owner. Runs the operation end to end: planning, deployment, logistics and the 24/7 medical control point. Paramedic with South Western Ambulance Service, currently serving as Lead Paramedic and on-scene Operational Commander. Former Team Leader of Exmoor Search and Rescue. Field experience across the Spine Race, the Highland Ultra, and every Beyond the Ultimate event from the Tian Shan mountains to the Amazon jungle.
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Archi Stewart
Director
Director and co-owner. Archi brings the organiser’s view. He co-owns and runs Beyond the Ultimate and The Spine Race, the world-class endurance events GEM was built around. That both-sides-of-the-table perspective is what GEM operates on: medical and risk planning that comes from inside the event, not outside it.
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Simon Davies
Director
Director and co-owner. Simon holds the commercial side of GEM: positioning, brand and the digital systems the business runs on. He is also a director and co-owner of Beyond the Ultimate and The Spine Race, which puts a second organiser’s voice in the room alongside Archi. A career in marketing strategy and digital transformation across multiple sectors, in both creative and strategic roles. Fellow of The Marketing Society. Teams under his direction have won more than 100 awards.
Operational leaders
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Prescribing & Drug Compliance
Sets prescribing policy, protocols and controlled-drugs governance behind every deployment.
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Clinical Governance
Named oversight, audit, and the clinical review after every event.
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Policy, Guideline & SOP
The standards and procedures every GEM deployment runs to.
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Research & Quality Improvement
Keeps GEM’s clinical practice current and evidence-based.
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Inventory & Operations Support
Equipment, consumables and field-ready stock for every deployment.
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Education & Training
Internal continued professional development and external training programmes.
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Technology & Systems
The platforms, data and tooling behind the operation.
Non-executive directors
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Dr James Gagg
Clinical
Non-Executive Director, Clinical. Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Musgrove Park Hospital and Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Team Doctor for Exmoor Search and Rescue since 2013, with a research portfolio spanning trauma, sepsis and pre-hospital care. With Dr Bunce, provides 24/7 remote senior clinical oversight to GEM teams on the ground.
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Steven Brown
Security and Risk
Non-Executive Director, Security and Risk. Former Royal Marines Officer with two decades of operational leadership in financial services, including M&A integration and platform delivery for MSCI and Morgan Stanley. Brings independent oversight of GEM’s security and risk discipline. Marathon des Sables finisher and Spine Challenger competitor.
The team is the cover.
Work with GEM
Join the team
GEM is a team of doctors, paramedics, nurses and risk operatives who work the hardest endurance events and expeditions on earth. We are always glad to hear from strong people who want that work. If that is you, introduce yourself.