High Altitude Evacuation Vehicle
Massachusetts General Hospital has been offering Wilderness Medicine training since 2003. We trained our first wilderness medicine research fellow in 2005-07. The MGH Wilderness Medicine Fellowship began in 2008. Our fellowship is designed to provide graduates of emergency medicine residency programs with advanced training in wilderness medicine practice, research, and teaching. MGH trains tomorrow’s wilderness medicine leaders. The Earth needs a good doctor.™
The MGH Wilderness Medicine Fellowship is a one to two year program designed to give graduates of emergency medicine residency programs the skills and knowledge to become tomorrow’s leaders in the field of wilderness medicine.
While a ‘new’ specialty, Wilderness Medicine traces its roots to the earliest days of medical care, when resource-limited, austere conditions were the norm. Now as then, the touchstones of our patient care are intellect, ingenuity, and a keen attention to each patient’s history and physical exam. We then ally this ancient human relationship with modern, portable, state-of-the-art technology, from ultrasound imaging to blood testing. Our focus is on the patient in front of us; our vision and reach are global.
Our Wilderness Medicine Fellowship provides:
- Training in the skills needed to care for themselves, their team and their patients under austere conditions where extreme environmental exposures (e.g. temperature, weather, technical/ hazardous terrain) are expected.
- Experience providing effective patient care despite prolonged pre-hospital contact times, with limited resources and equipment.
- Outstanding clinical training in the acute care of critically-ill medical and trauma patients in our top-ranked, Level 1 Trauma Center/ Emergency Department treating more than 98,000 patients a year.
- Opportunities to hone in independent decision making skills.
- Opportunities to build competence in technical outdoor skills (e.g. swift-water or high angle rescue) that will be required in the service of patient care and team safety.
Photon Harvesting - Kilimanjaro
The MGH Wilderness Medicine Fellow will enjoy:
- 1-2 years of rigorous clinical and wilderness medical training -- at the completion of which they will be prepared to provide expert wilderness medical care anywhere on the globe.
- Pursuing intellectually-rigorous research to advance the state of knowledge in wilderness medicine and publish these results.
- Spending extended field time practicing wilderness medicine.
- Teaching wilderness medicine to students, residents, and staff - both in the classroom and in wilderness settings.
- Learning advanced outdoor technical skills (whether ice/rock/alpine climbing, whitewater or sea boating, etc).
- Practicing in the developing world (remembering that wilderness medicine is defined by the practice of resource-limited medicine under austere conditions - not exclusively by distance from human population centers).
- Exploring environmental policy issues as they impact human health and well-being.
- Engaging in active collaborations from our backyard at Harvard University (with faculty at the Medical School and School of Public Health), to the outer edges of the planet (from Nepal, to Siberia, to Africa).
- Pursuing ongoing clinical care and research projects in austere regions from Alaska, to Nepal, Siberia, and Africa.
Mentorship
The fellowship director holds regular, direct meetings with the fellow to encourage the individual’s personal and professional development. Our fellows aren’t simply well-trained, they become active contributors to our MGH community for the rest of their careers.
Clinical Experience
Our staff and fellows have served in leadership/field medical staff positions with:
Research
Regular and direct contact with fellowship director to oversee:
- Planning of fellow’s individual research projects.
- How best to anticipate/navigate IRB concerns.
- Acquisition of "real-world" experience in development and execution of successful wilderness/international research programs.
- Publication of your work.
Additional opportunities exist for extended experience through:
Outdoor Technical Skill Training
A range of opportunities exist to develop technical backcountry skills. Staff and prior fellows have taken advantage or have access to world-class teaching through group and individual expeditions through:
- NOLS/WMI – Gila Wilderness, NM. Wind River Range, WY. Prince William Sound, AK
- National Park Service/ Alaska Mountaineering School – Denali National Park
- Huntington’s Ravine and Cathedral Ledge, North Conway, NH (ice/rock)
- Maine/Massachusetts/Alaska/British Columbia Coasts (sea kayaking)
- White water/backcountry boating (Dead, West Branch, Kennebec, Allagash Rivers locally, with experience across the Southeastern and Western U.S. and Alaska)
- Far Eastern Siberia (Chersky, Siberia) – 6 time zones east of Moscow
- Baxter State Park (ice/rock/backcountry)
- Mt Rainier/Cascades National Park (mountaineering)
- Mt. Kilimanjaro
- Khumbu and Annapurna Regions of Nepal
- Japanese Alps/Mt. Fuji
- Hyperbaric/Dive Medicine Training in Hawaii
Teaching
Fellows have regular teaching responsibilities with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residents and Harvard Medical School students at MGH, and can gain active participation and field time with the Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School (WMI/NOLS). Dr. Harris serves as Medical Director, Curriculum Writer, and Supervising and Field Faculty for the senior medical student course (Medicine in the Wild) taught with NOLS/WMI.
- Teaching of Medical Student Elective at Harvard Medical School.
- Teaching with MGH Continuing Medical Education courses.
- MedWAR Experiences
International/ Disaster/ Simulation Opportunities
International Experience – Numerous opportunities for extended backcountry medical experience exist through our long-term relations with the Himalayan Rescue Association, NOLS, Woods Hole Research Center, and international colleagues. Additionally, opportunities include the MGH Center for Global Health & Disaster Response (Thomas Burke, MD MGH), MGH Center for Disaster Response (Hillary Cranmer, MD MGH), the Global Emergency Care Collaborative, The Institute for International Emergency Medicine and Health (Brigham and Women's Hospital), and contacts with Partners in Health colleagues in Rwanda. Numerous opportunities to gain experience exist through the Institute for Medical Simulation (James Gordon, MD MGH) and the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation (Brigham and Women's Hospital).
Explorers’ Club (NYC): Fellows may be invited to the Annual Explorer’s Club Dinner and to consider participation in active research expeditions with this storied group.