Minnesota athlete-activist takes on human rights

Like a lot of athletes, Carolyn Treacy Bramante listens to her iPod while training. But that's not Beck or Bach piping through her player; it's the dulcet tones of one of her professors delivering a lecture. Such multitasking is essential for a young dynamo juggling med school, Olympic biathlon training and a full slate of activist and community work.

"Actually, I usually don't feel busy or overwhelmed," said the second-year student at the University of Minnesota Medical School, a 2006 Olympian. "Biathlons and training give me a higher level of energy."

In her free time (such as it is) Bramante, 26, can be found administering diabetes and hypertension screenings to the homeless, organizing a town meeting on global AIDS with U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, or pitching in at the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic. She also heads the med school's chapter of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which mobilizes health professionals and students for worldwide health and human-rights causes.

The synergy works every which way, she said. For starters, "I always race better when I'm involved in a bigger world than just biathlon." All those classes keep her from "overtraining." And her athletic experiences were a major impetus for Bramante's involvement in human-rights work.

"Having a chance to selfishly work on my own health motivated me to help others achieve health," said Bramante. "Somebody else's body should be just as healthy as mine."

"She's someone who can pull folks in and get them involved and invested," said Pete Witzler, national student organizer for PHR, which has 60 chapters and 3,200 student members. "She's a fairly charismatic person, but also disarming and incredibly smart. She also reacts really quickly when we need something, which is pretty amazing in the middle of med school, where students are just trying to get by."

Bramante comes by her selflessness naturally. Her grandmother, Therese Treacy, "was always volunteering and welcoming young pregnant people into her home" in White Bear Lake, Bramante said. Her father, Kevin Treacy, started an eye-care outreach project on St. Vincent Island in the Grenadines, where poverty is rampant because tourists aren't much interested in strolling volcanic black beaches.

Bramante has made six trips to the island, some with her dad, primarily working with children orphaned by AIDS. While in Cleveland with her husband, Anthony Bramante, and his parents, she delivered dinners to the homeless. She taught English in Siberia amid desperate poverty.

"I'm an optimistic person, but there are so many challenges" around the world, she said, her steely blue eyes narrowing.

'Evidence-based' efforts

Realism, more than idealism, motivates Bramante. She was drawn to PHR because it takes a scientific approach to humanitarian assistance that "really influences policy." PHR's big push this year was a bill that now is funding 140,000 new health-care workers in Africa.

It doesn't hurt that the work is "something you can do after school," especially for someone who spends nearly 20 hours a week in the classroom, 20 to 30 hours on study or homework, 10 hours on research and 10 to 20 hours on biathlon training.

The load is eased a bit by Anthony's job as a second lieutenant training with the U.S. Marines' 1st Intel Battalion in Virginia. He'll be home for the holidays, when school's out and the two of them can focus on each other -- and skiing. They were teammates on Dartmouth' ski team.

'Love at first shot'

Bramante took up skiing as a Duluth East High School ninth-grader and was a natural.

"She took to it just perfectly. She's really good at seeing how something needs to be done and then learning it quickly," said her coach, Dave Johnson. "We had an assistant coach named Dean Grace who showed her a few things at the beginning, and two days later we saw her and said, 'Wow, she's skiing just like Dean Grace.'"

Johnson recommended the biathlon, which combines cross-country-skiing and shooting a 9.5-pound, .22-caliber rifle. "It was love at first shot, I guess," Bramante said.

Because of tournaments all over the United States and Europe, she took six years to graduate from Dartmouth, but became adept enough to make the 2006 U.S. Olympic team. She's now taking aim at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. First up are events next month in Germany and the Czech Republic -- but not the 2009 World Championships in South Korea. "Even if I did qualify for 'worlds,' " she said, "I would have to turn it down because of school."

Hey, a busy girl has to draw the line somewhere.

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643