Wilderness Medical Society


The Wilderness Medical Society was created on 15 February 1983 by three physicians from California, United States — Dr. Paul Auerbach, Dr. Ed Geehr, and Dr. Ken Kizer. It provides advice and guidance to medical personnel working in wilderness or backcountry environments. It also publishes Wilderness & Environmental Medicine Journal, Wilderness Medicine Magazine, and Practice Guidelines for Wilderness Emergency Care.

Academy of Wilderness Medicine

The academy seeks to provide a system of adult education and certification in a modern and standardised way to provide a set level of knowledge and education for practitioners working in the wilderness arena.
The goals of the academy are to:
The Academy also maintains the curriculum for the Fellowship award. This curriculum is completed over a maximum of a 5-year period and culminates in the award of Fellow being bestowed at the Society's annual conference. The award of the Fellowship allows the holder to use the post-nominal letters FAWM—Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, as of early 2020 there were just over 600 current Fellows. The Academy also bestows a Master Fellow designation.

FAWM curriculum

The curriculum for participants wishing to gain fellowship is modular and is divided into Electives, Required Topics and Experience:
Required/Core Topics are divided into twelve sub-headings:
FAWM credits can be gained in a number of ways such as:
The Wilderness Medical Society organize annual conferences and meetings for members and interested parties.

Notable Fellows