Whether you are a seasoned wilderness medicine professional or someone new to the field, the University of Colorado Section of Wilderness Medicine offers valuable resources and training for every step of your wilderness medicine education. Use this page to learn more about wilderness medicine, explore upcoming classes, and find additional resources to advance your education.
Wilderness Medicine
What would you do if something went wrong?
Overview
Outline
- What is Wilderness Medicine?
- Wilderness Medicine at the University of Colorado
- Wilderness Medicine Classes
- Pre-med students (from any university)
- Medical Professionals
- Public
- Upcoming Wilderness Medicine Events
- Wilderness Medicine Instructors
What is Wilderness Medicine?
Wilderness Medicine is the art and science of taking care of people in remote, austere, or extreme settings. Some have defined it as being further than one hour from ‘definitive’ care, in the form or a clinic or hospital. Others have defined it simply as any situation where you need to rely on yourself or companions for care. Practitioners of wilderness medicine have famously been associated with seeing patients at the basecamp of Everest, the South Pole, in submarines, remote deserts, or in space. Yet the skills and principles of the field are more entrenched with traditional medical education, holding the primacy of the patient interview and the physical exam– in the absence of technology– as the core of patient care.
Wilderness medicine isn’t about holding on to antiquated aspects of care– it’s about how to use the best attributes of 21st century care in limited environments: how portable ultrasounds can diagnose fractures in the field; how new field dressings and tourniquet techniques can arrest life threatening hemorrhages; and how to practice high level medical decision making when you’re on your own.
Wilderness Medicine at the University of Colorado
Wilderness medicine is practiced by many throughout the world; however, few medical schools have embraced the field as passionately as the University of Colorado. In a hyper-specialized medical world with rapid advances in technology, we think wilderness medicine has a core place in the training of competent and compassionate providers. We believe our trainees should be confident diagnosticians and caretakers in any environment on earth– that is the essence of our teaching philosophy.
Yet, wilderness medicine is also too much fun to just teach medical students! That’s why we’ve extended dozens of course offerings to college undergraduates, healthcare providers seeking continuing education, and laypeople in our communities. Our educational menu encompasses a wide swath of the scope and practice of wilderness medicine, including:
Additional Resources & Upcoming Events
Jay Lemery MD FACEP FAWM
Section Chief, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Climate Change & Human Health
Remote Medical Direction
Elaine Reno MD DTM&H
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Tropical Medicine & Hygiene
Todd Miner Ed.D FAWM
Senior Instructor of Emergency Medicine, Education Director of Section of WEM
Wilderness Medicine Education
Backcountry Guiding
Chris Davis MD DTM&H
Medical Director of the TEAM Clinic, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Remote Medical Direction
Altitude Medicine
Telemedicine
Breanna McKercher
Administrative Assistant, Section of Wilderness Medicine
Graphic Design
Coordinating
Barbara Blok MD FACEP
Associate Residency Director, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Resident Education
Certified by Certifications Here
David Braun, PA-C
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Wilderness Medicine Education, Expedition Medicine, Wilderness Skills
Vaughn A. Browne, MD, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine, Chairman of the School of Medicine Admissions Committee
Ultrasound Education
Emergency Medicine
Andrew Clithero DO FAWM
Family Medicine Hospitalist
Family Medicine
Wilderness Medicine
High-Altitude Physiology
Rick Cole MD MPH
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Aerospace Medicine
Ultrasound
Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments
Tracy Cushing MD FACEP FAWM
Fellowship Director, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Epidemiology
Remote Medical Direction
Erin Drasler MD
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Wilderness Medicine Education
Global Health & International EM
Benjamin Easter MD MBA
Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine
Aerospace Medicine
Remote Medical Direction
Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments
Jacqueline Kiernan PT DPT
Emergency Department Physical Therapy
Wilderness Medicine
Physical Therapy
Dana Levin MD MPH
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Aerospace Medicine
Hyperbaric Medicine
Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments
Chris McStay MD FACEP FAWM
Chief of Clinical Operations of Emergency Medicine, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine Operations
Endurance Physiology
Wilderness Medicine Education
Martin Musi MD
Collaboration Director, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine External Collaborations
Frostbite
Mountain Medicine
Terry O’Connor MD FACEP DIMM
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Blogger-in-Chief
Adventure Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Ryan Paterson MD, DiMM, DTM&H
Volunteer Clinical Faculty, Director of DiMM
Wilderness and Expedition Medicine
International / Global Health Medical Ethics
Tropical Medicine & Hygiene
Katie Saxon MD FAWM
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Wilderness Medicine
Low-Resource Environment Practice of Medicine
Prof. Volker Schöffl MD, MHBA, FAWM
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Wilderness Medicine Injury and Prevention
Sports Medicine
Global Health
Jennifer Starling MD DTM&H, DiMM
Volunteer Clinical Faculty
Wilderness Medicine Education
High Altitude Medicine
Travel Medicine
Jon Steller MD
Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellow | Children’s Hospital Colorado
Space Medicine
Reproductive Health
Sarah Terez Malka MD FAAP FAAEM FACEP FAWM
Emergency Medicine Physician
Emergency Medicine
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Michael Yaron MD
Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine
Pediatric High Altitude Medicine
Expedition Medicine
David Young MD MS FAWM
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Wilderness Medicine Education
Race Medicine