Training & performance

Mike Ferrara, Ph.D.

Athletic trainer • Coach • Lifelong mountaineer

Mike blends exercise science, coaching, medical experience, and a lifelong love of the mountains to help people prepare intelligently for ambitious objectives.

About Mike

Experience shaped by the mountains.

Mike is an avid outdoorsman, coach, medical professional, and cancer thriver with extensive climbing, hiking, and trekking experience. He is particularly committed to helping people facing cancer or other health challenges prepare physically and mentally for mountain objectives.

His career as a certified athletic trainer gives him a scientific foundation for developing individualized training programs and for leading hikes and treks. His approach is practical and personal: the program should reflect the person, the objective, and the realities of everyday life.

He especially enjoys helping people begin their own mountain journey and combines a caring coaching style with evidence-based preparation.

What Mike brings to Trek Trainers

Exercise science, sports medicine, and decades of field experience.

Mike combines a long career in athletic training and exercise physiology with formal mountain education and extensive trekking experience — especially relevant to adults preparing for ambitious objectives later in life.

Physiology first

With a PhD in epidemiology and an MS in exercise physiology, Mike builds training around conditioning, recovery, and the demands of the individual rather than a generic plan.

Sports medicine depth

His career includes leadership and medical roles with the Paralympics, Team USA, international competitions, and professional athletic-training organizations.

Mountain preparation

AMC training, Wilderness First Aid, mountaineering school, backcountry safety, and avalanche education complement decades of sports-medicine experience.

Selected mountain experience

→Everest Base Camp — 2009 & 2023
→Gokyo Lakes & Renjo La Pass — 2025
→Mt. Rainier — 2019, 2021 & 2022
→Cayambe & Illiniza Sur — Ecuador
→Cordillera Blanca — Peru
→Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim — 2023
→Mt. Whitney, Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams & Mt. Fuji
→All 48 New Hampshire 4,000-footers

Selected credentials, recognition & relevant training

→PhD — Epidemiology, Penn State
→MS — Exercise Physiology, Michigan State
→Winter Hiking Series, Map & Compass, and Leadership School — AMC, New Hampshire
→Wilderness First Aid — AMC, New Hampshire
→Ecuador Mountaineering School
→Introduction to Backcountry Skiing & Backcountry Safety — Washington
→AIARE Avalanche Training — Utah

Your next objective

Start with the kind of help you need.

Talk through your goals with Trek Trainers, or simply ask for details about an upcoming trip, training, or preparation.

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