Our History

WMS Footprints: past, present, and future
Jonna Barry and Blair Erb, MD

2003 is the 20th anniversary of the Wilderness Medical Society. Contemplating the future when the past has been so productive is exciting. We invite you learn more about the Society, its founders, its programs, and its goals. We hope you will join us this summer at the 4th World Congress on Wilderness Medicine, Wilderness Medicine in the New Century, in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, August 9th – 13th. Help us celebrate our 20th Anniversary and take part in our most timely and topical conference ever.

The Beginning
The Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) was conceived by three California physicians: Paul Auerbach, Ed Geehr, and Ken Kizer. Their efforts to institute sound principles of medical practice in wilderness settings led to the formal incorporation of the WMS on February 15, 1983, as a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation in California. Its specific purpose was "to encourage, foster, support, and conduct activities or programs concerned with life sciences which may improve the scientific knowledge of the membership and the general public in matters related to wilderness environments and human activities in these environments." The founders moved quickly to develop a framework for accomplishing the Society's goals and identified its areas of focus: administration, curriculum content, meetings, and publications.

After ten-year's work and re-incorporation, the Society's by-laws were revised in 2000. WMS received the IRS Tax designation 501 (c) 3, classifying our Society as a "public charity for public good," which implies service beyond its membership, and opening the door for tax deductible donations.

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Administration
Originally based in Mill Valley, California, in first president Ed Geehr's home, the fledgling Society recruited volunteers for administration. Janet Geehr served as secretary to the Society. Suzanne Kizer provided part-time secretarial support, and handled correspondence generated by an article about the WMS concept in the news section of Journal of the American Medical Association. Dian Simpkins became the first employee, a part-time secretary, and dealt with all aspects of the developing society from her home in Point Reyes Station, California, until the Society grew to 2500 members.

In 1992, a formal link was established to the American College of Sports Medicine for support services. Administrative offices were moved to ACSM headquarters in Indianapolis, and Jim Whitehead became Executive Director with Dian Simpkins' support. Subsequently, WMS reincorporated in Colorado and moved its headquarters to Colorado Springs in 1998.

In July 2005, WMS moved its business office to Allen Marketing and Management, a division of  Wilderness & Environmental Medicine journal's long-time publisher, Allen Press, located in Lawrence, Kansas.

The WMS administrative office is now in Salt Lake City and the Interim Director is Loren Greenway. Managing Editor Jonna Barry's Editorial Office remains in Colorado Springs.

Curriculum Content
Building on their original ideas, early leaders in the Society developed a needs assessment questionnaire to identify areas of interest. The results remain pillars of the program and include hazards of environmental exposure such as heat and cold injury, altitude illness, hyperbaric medicine, and trauma in the wilderness, hazardous marine life, mammalian bites, venomous bites and stings, survival techniques, search and rescue, resuscitation; infectious diseases associated with travel; medical fitness and nutrition for wilderness activities; and expedition medical planning. These topics have guided curriculum content for WMS educational efforts that include a minimum list of course topics for Wilderness First Responder.

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Emphasis has been on credibility of its educational programs. After receiving provisional accreditation in 1984, WMS received full accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education in 1990. The Society has been re-accredited every four years since then. Excellence in programming has remained a key feature of WMS educational efforts.

Meetings
The first Annual Meeting was held November 1 – 4, 1984, at the Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite National Park. Seventy-two people from fourteen states attended. Since then, the Society has held its Annual Meeting and other conferences at such places as Grand Tetons, Wyoming; Big Sky, Montana; Keystone, Colorado; Stratton Mountain, Vermont; Snowbird, Utah; Lake Placid, New York; Kananaskis, Canada; Park City, Utah; and Snowmass, Colorado.

Topic-specific meetings began in 1991 with "Winter Wilderness Medicine" at Crested Butte, Colorado. Since then, specialty meetings have developed in travel medicine, desert medicine, and dive medicine. With that first winter meeting, the Society began inviting premier speakers. Geoff Somers, English navigator for the 1990 Trans-Antarctica 4000-mile cross-country ski expedition, was the first keynote speaker. Others since then have included esteemed experts in their fields. A partial list reads like a "Who's Who" of the outdoor community: Eric Simonson, the late Alex Lowe, Gordon Wiltse, Royal Robins, Bradford Washburn, the late Galen Rowell, the late Barry Bishop, Peter Hackett, Tom Hornbein, and Jim Whittaker.

World Congress
Wilderness knows no national boundaries. Under the leadership of Blair Erb, the Society began its program of quadrennial World Congresses to review wilderness medicine in all parts of the world.

In 1991, the 1st World Congress was held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, and attracted 531 participants from eighteen countries, twice the size of any previous meeting. It set the stage for cooperation among other related organizations from around the world. Cooperative alliances were formed with international groups, such as the International Society of Mountain Medicine, the International Society of Travel Medicine, and the International Commission for Alpine Rescue.

The 2nd World Congress, held in Aspen, Colorado, in 1995, recognized Franz Berghold, founder of the Austrian Society for Alpine and High Altitude Medicine, for his international work, by awarding him the World Congress Award.

In 1999, at the 3rd World Congress, again at Whistler and attended by 570 participants from twenty-seven countries, Bruno Durrer, mountain rescue leader in Switzerland, was recognized with the World Congress Award.

The 4th World Congress on Wilderness Medicine, "Wilderness Medicine in the New Century," will be held August 9 - 13, 2003, in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Chairs Peter Hackett, Paul Auerbach, Blair Erb, Robert Schoene, Eric Johnson, Sheryl Olson, and Linda Lindsey have planned superlative lectures, many small group sessions, and a number of workshops including very special pre-conference workshops. The "Conference" area of this website contains more information about this world class program!

The 5th World Congress, Mountain and Wilderness Medicine, will be held October 3-7, 2007 in Aviemore, Scotland. Stay tuned for more information about how to register early for this exceptional World Congress.

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Publications
The written word was a critically important communications instrument early in the Society's history. Wilderness Medicine, the official newsletter of WMS, made its debut in January 1984, and has been published quarterly since then. The newsletter has been edited by Ed Geehr (1984 – 1986), Howard Backer (1986 – 1991), Eric Weiss (1991 – 1994), and Karl Neumann (1994 – 2002).

Position statements regarding wilderness medicine practice were completed under the editorship of Ken Iserson in 1987. A second edition was completed in 1990. The position statements eventually evolved into a WMS publication, Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines for Wilderness Emergency Care, edited and revised by WMS Secretary and Past-President, Bill Forgey. The 5th edition of Practice Guidelines will be available in August 2007.

Thanks to the untiring efforts of Paul Auerbach, the Journal of Wilderness Medicine became a reality in 1987, published by Chapman and Hall, Ltd. Under the editorial leadership of Bill Robinson (1995 through 2000), the Journal took on a new name, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine (WEM), moved to a new publisher, Allen Press, and in 1999 was indexed in Index Medicus (MEDLINE), Current Contents, and Excerpta Medica (Embase). Bob Norris is the current WEM Editor-in-Chief. The current issue of the Journal is available online at www.wemjournal.org to WMS members.  The Journal's archives are available to everyone regardless of membership.

The development of an educational lecture slide series began in 1990 under the guidance of Bill Robinson, Ken Zafren, and Peter Hackett. The lectures covered a variety of wilderness medicine topics, and were written by doctors for doctors, medical students, and other health professionals. During 2000 and 2001, under the guidance of Editors Luanne Freer and David Townes, the series was revised and formatted into PowerPoint™ presentations. The current editor, Brad Bennett, is in the process completing the 2nd edition of the original 11 topics and developing 8 new topics for 2007.

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Today
The Wilderness Medical Society maintains its commitment to Education, Research, and Fellowship. Our meetings are fun as well as informative. Awards and grants programs are better than ever. Abstract presentations at the annual meetings enjoy a yearly increase. Student Interest Groups (SIGs) are the fastest growing segment of our membership. In the fall of 2002, SIGs boasted seventy-one full-fledged groups and numerous pending groups. Our journal, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, is available online; the first issue of 2003 unveiled a four-color cover. The Society's website, www.wms.org, is being redesigned to make it visually fresh and exciting as well as easier to navigate. Wilderness Medicine, the newsletter, received a 2003 makeover: four-color cover-to-cover, more photos, more news, and a wider variety of articles. The website will continue to offer a members' directory, conference schedules and registration, a web store, instructions for authors, and a link to the online Journal. In the future . . . much more.

Every year the Society’s programs expand and new goals are set. Our remarkable growth and strategic planning instill pride and enthusiasm from the founding board to our most recent associates—all of whom have combined their professional commitment with their love of the outdoors.

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