Wilderness Medicine Advanced Mentorship
Emergency medicine takes care of anyone at any time for anything. Wilderness medicine adds a fourth component - ANYWHERE, often requiring improvisation, making do with the resources available, and thinking outside of the box to deliver the best care.
This SAEM-approved, Wilderness Medicine Society-approved two-year fellowship is designed for a graduate of an emergency medicine residency interested in becoming an educator and leader in the field of academic wilderness medicine
Stanford's Wilderness Medicine Fellowship was the first of its kind in the country, developed with guidance from wilderness medicine pioneers Paul Auerbach and Eric Weiss.
Our wilderness medicine fellows collaborate with experts around the world to learn new skills, discuss research, and pursue individual projects.
Fellows have:
- Pursued original research in altitude medicine
- Served as medical staff on expedition-length ultramarathons around the world
- Presented at regional, national and international conferences
- Studied avalanche medicine with a world-renowned expert in Chamonix, France.
- Taught as content experts to search-and-rescue groups
- Served as medical staff on Alaskan Ice Field expeditions
Fellowship At-a-Glance
- Two-year program
- Fellow selected from emergency medicine board eligible/board certified applicants
- Cutting-edge research opportunities - Learn more about our research
- Educational and clinical experiences to learn the core curriculum and skill sets of wilderness medicine
- Protected non-clinical time for hands-on clinical care and scholarly activity of the fellow's choosing
- Opportunities to instruct lay persons and medical professionals at local, regional, national, and international forums
The goals of the fellowship are to provide physicians with the cognitive knowledge, didactic training, and clinical skills that comprise wilderness medicine.
Fellows are expected to conduct original research, educate other physicians, and serve as a medical resource for outdoor organizations. In addition to the core curriculum; the fellow's specific areas of interest will dictate research and clinical activities.
The core curriculum is designed to foster understanding of the physiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of each core subject, including related improvisation and application of knowledge in a wilderness medicine setting.
The core curriculum consists of six areas covered through small group didactics, journal clubs, lectures, clinical opportunities, and directed self-learning, with a concurrent evaluation of literature to foster an evidence-based approach to wilderness medicine.
Fellows receive educational and clinical credits toward a diploma from the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and can pursue a Diploma in Mountain Medicine if desired.
A two-fellowship allows mastery of the core curriculum subject matter and a deeper understanding of the core literature in addition to diverse teaching opportunities to transmit that knowledge. There are multiple teaching opportunities through small groups, classroom sessions, and journal clubs.
All fellows will become certified as instructors in the Stanford-taught Advanced Wilderness Life Support (AWLS).
The fellow will have the opportunity to hone academic, teaching, and presentation skills by:
- Delivering multiple residency lectures and participating in faculty development activities.
- Opportunity to assist with online and offline medical direction of wilderness medicine systems and unique patient populations, including California Outward Bound and Stanford University Outdoor Education.
- Precepting the Stanford Wilderness Medicine elective for medical students and undergraduates in the spring, which includes didactic sessions, clinical skill-building workshops, and moulage scenarios.
- Lectures and instruction for the local Search & Rescue organizations.
- Organization of undergraduate Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder courses.
Clinical Activities
Our two-year fellowship will allow fellows the time to learn advanced wilderness technical skills, and multiple opportunities to apply those skills in true wilderness environments. Multiple clinical experiences are of paramount importance to any wilderness medicine fellow, as clinical care in resource limited conditions is the foundation for both pattern recognition of injury and illnesses, and application of wilderness knowledge in a real world setting.
Opportunities for clinical experience include:
- Medical staff for multi-stage ultramarathons around the world
- Opportunities in search and rescue locally, regionally and abroad
- High altitude aid posts
- Dive medicine
- Expedition doctor on ice field expeditions in Alaska
- Other areas of the fellows' choosing
Fellows have served as medical staff and trained with the following organizations:
Himalayan Rescue Association
America's Cup
Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital in Nepal
RacingThePlanet
Teton Search & Rescue
Kenya Flying Doctors
Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit
Yosemite Search and Rescue
Insitute for Altitude Medicine
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
Wind Chasers
USU Operation Bushmaster Military field exercises
Extreme Aerospace medical direction
Ultramarathon Medicine
All Stanford Wilderness Medicine fellows are invited on one or more international medical teams to staff expedition-length ultramarathons around the world with RacingThePlanet. Fellows have worked on medical teams in Egypt, China, Chile, Namibia, Ecuador, Iceland, Vietnam, Madagascar, Jordan, Australia, and Patagonia.
Fellows receive a fully-subsidized trip to provide hands-on medical care, and learn the clinical skills and knowledge that comprise ultramarathon medicine. The fellow is trained to prepare for medical care of 200+ person expeditions, and the unique injuries and illnesses encountered when athletes travel 155 self-supported miles across the some of the most formidable terrain on the planet. Many fellows have gone on to serve as medical directors of ultramarathons in the years post-graduation.
Clinical Shifts
Fellows combine clinical shifts in an academic teaching hospital with didactics.
- Fellows are required to work 8 shifts per month (approximately 15 hours per week) as Attending Physician in the emergency department (ED) at Stanford University Hospital, with an academic appointment of Clinical Instructor in the Clinician Educator Line at Stanford University.
- While attending in the ED, fellows supervise residents and medical students.
- Clinical time is spent at Stanford University Hospital which is a world-renowned medical center. It is a Level 1 Adult and Pediatric trauma center with aero-medical transport. The diverse and high acuity patient population provides an excellent opportunity to continue to master clinical skills.
- All fellows must be ABEM board certified/eligible.
Current Fellow
Cooper Aakhus
2019
James Marvel
2018
Anne Walker
2017
Carrie Jurkiewicz
2016
Patrick Burns
2015
Dave Pomeranz
2014
Mark Christensen
Kate Shea
2013
Zina Semenovskaya
2012
Matthew DeClerk
2011
John Lissoway
2010
Matthew Schreiber
2009
Anil Menon
Mark Ellis
2004
Grant Lipman
Also:
Jay Sharp
Jenny Hargrove
Jo-Anne Feldman