Team of Advisors
The Joseph Project Team of Advisors
Harold Oster, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Harold Oster grew up in Miami, Florida, graduating college and medical school at the University of Miami. He completed his internship and residency at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego. He then returned to the University of Miami for a fellowship in Infectious Diseases, remaining on faculty as Interim Chief of Infectious Diseases at the VA Medical Center.
In 1999, Harold moved back to San Diego where he worked as a primary care internist at Scripps Clinic. In 2001, he left Scripps to work at UCSD Medical Center, practicing Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. In 2004, Harold and his family moved to Minnesota where he worked at Allina Health as an internist and clinic lead physician until retiring from the practice of medicine in 2024.
Harold’s medical interests are diverse, ranging from infectious diseases to diabetes and disease prevention. His passion for health and wellness led him to write a book on weight loss, The Three Rules to Lose Weight and Keep It Off Forever, which he updated with a second edition in 2024. He reviews medical articles for the Natural Health Research Institute and is currently working on another book.
Harold and his wife met in medical school. She has a thriving Ophthalmology practice, and their son is a senior software engineer at Optum Health. In his free time, Harold enjoys hiking, drawing, and playing the piano.
Bob O’Hara
Outdoor / Expedition Advisor
Bob O’Hara has been an educator all of his adult life working with high school kids in science and coaching after school sports like Nordic skiing and track. He currently afficiates in four sports from August through June. From 1960 until Covid, he spent most of his summer months roaming by canoe the rivers, streams and connecting lakes far north of the 60th Parallel. Bob has mentored many young men and women paddlers on the finer points of arctic exploration and travel. In 1978 he was honored with induction into the Explorer’s Club (New York). His love for the wilderness and wild places began in the BWCA but has no boundaries; his canoe travel has taken him across Manitoba, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Quebec and Alaska. He has paddled across all of Finland from Russia to Baltic Sea. And, he has ocean paddled on Hudson Bay from Wager Bay to Repulse Bay. 2026 marks the 68th consecutive year that Bob O’Hara has paddled the BWCA and Quetico wilderness.
Interesting Facts about Bob O’Hara:
- Paddled from Norway House to York Factory in 1967, following the Port/ Sevareid 1930 route.
- That trip launched his 50 years of far north padding.
- He is a member of the Explorers Club, New York, the Minnesota Explorers Hall of Fame, the Minnesota Canoe Association, Member of the “base committee” (board) at Northern Tier High Adventure in Ely (BSA).
- He has paddled the Boundary Waters of Minnesota-Ontario every year since 1959.
- Leader of canoe expeditions into Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada annually since 1969 traveling over 34 major river systems.
- Featured speaker at many events across many states and in Canada. Consultant to many arctic travelers from youth groups to adults in the U.S. and Canada.
- Collects Inuit art along with books pertaining to the Far North.
- Director of the annual Far North Symposium for the MCA.
Daniel (Dan) Kral
Blacksmithing, Freeze Drying and Prepping Advisor
Blacksmithing: Blacksmith – Iron/Steel is the black metal and the word smith is to smite or hit.
Dan Kral started blacksmithing on his own in the early 1970’s. He attended Turley Forge in Sante Fe, NM – where he attended an intensive blacksmithing course.
Dan worked for the Minnesota Historical Society at the restoration of Fort Snelling as the Fort Blacksmith from 1973-1978. Six months of each year he did blacksmithing in costume as part of a living history program. Every other six months he continued full-time blacksmithing, making necessary ironwork for the restoration of the fort, (not in costume).
He taught traditional blacksmithing at the Minnesota School of Horseshowing and Blacksmithing, (now known as the Minnesota School of Horseshoeing). Besides practical blacksmithing, Bob also taught ferrous metallurgy as it relates to blacksmithing. Ferrous metallurgy is the science and technology of processing iron and its alloys.
Dan is a founding member of the Guild of Metalsmiths – a predominately blacksmithing organization based in the Twin Cities. He is a certified teacher of the Guild. He demonstrates and teaches blacksmithing at various places and events.
Dan does traditional blacksmithing where he uses a forge that is fired with coal and coke, (a purified form of coal – which burns cleaner and hotter than coal).
Freeze Drying:
Dan has owned a freeze dryer since August of 2022, and has freeze dried over 400 batches of food. Freeze dried food has the water removed in the process and ten is packaged to also remove the oxygen (with oxygen absorbers). Freeze dried food, in general, will be stable for 25 years. Some freeze dried food can be eaten in the freeze dried state. Most freeze dried food is reconstituted by adding water. Certain food items like eggs have better results when freeze dried raw. Thus, when reconsituted they need to be cooked before eating. Other foods do not require cooking.