welcome to
Pacific Northwest Wilderness Medicine
We’re excited to announce that the Northwest Wilderness Medicine Conference is returning for a 7th year January 3-5, 2025.
Learn more about the conference and important dates by clicking the buttons above!
To stay up-to-date with ticket sales, talk + workshop schedule, and other news make sure to subscribe.
PWNM is excited to continue providing wilderness medicine education opportunities during the 2024-2025 year, and we hope you’ll join us!
Meet our new board of directors for 2024-2025 by clicking the button to the right or navigating to our Directors page.
The best way to stay in the loop, as generic as it sounds, is to subscribe to our email list. We really only send out a few emails a year (at best) when we have big updates, and never spam.
We also have a new Instagram profile facilitated by our new board so follow for more frequent updates.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out and send us a message any time. Will be in touch. Thank you again.
Est. 2018
PNWM incorporated in 2018 to fulfill the need for advanced wilderness medicine education in the Pacific Northwest. While other organizations offered introductory trainings for laypersons, few courses targeted healthcare providers and none in the region were designed for healthcare students. After hosting the 2nd annual Northwest Wilderness Medicine Conference, the founders identified a regional need for educational opportunities in advanced concepts of wilderness medicine with pricing and structure accessible to health professions students. Pacific Northwest Wilderness Medicine will fill that void by offering instruction and events designed to teach health professions students and providers how to apply their medical training to the field of wilderness medicine. Today, PNWM is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Mission
We offer wilderness medicine education to inform and inspire healthcare students and providers in the Pacific Northwest.
About us
In their second year of medical school, four students from the region teamed up to successfully host the first wilderness medical conference in the Pacific Northwest designed specifically for other students. With tremendous support from our student interest groups, industry experts, rescue groups, volunteers, and our sponsors, our event grew from a 40 to 100 participants in its second year. The original founders joined with faculty and residents who have been integral to the event's development to form the new Pacific Northwest Wilderness Medicine non-profit organization and Board of Directors.
Paul s. Auerbach
01.04.1951 - 06.23.2021
In memoriam
There are no words to express the depth of our appreciation and sense of loss for the passing of this true giant, not just in our world of wilderness medicine but in humanity and medicine as a whole. Please take a moment to read the kind words distributed by WMS CEO Renita Fonseca as well as the beautiful words drafted by Dr. Edelstein in his “In Memoriam” for the WMS Wilderness Medicine Magazine.
“It is with a heavy heart that I convey to you the news that WMS Co-Founder Paul Auerbach, MD, MS, FACEP, FAAEM, MFAWM passed away on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, following a difficult battle with brain cancer. His daughter shares that he “left the world at home, surrounded by his family, comfortable and without pain and distress,” and for that we are grateful.
The WMS and the field of wilderness medicine owe much to Paul... in countless publications, educational contributions, and beyond, his work spans decades into the past and its profound impact will continue for many more decades into the future. His legacy is truly timeless.
Thank you, Paul, for your innumerable contributions to the WMS and the field of wilderness medicine, and for the countless people you have helped, inspired, and mentored along the way. You will forever be in our hearts.”
- Renita Fonseca, CAE, CEO, Wilderness Medical Society
“The world is brighter and more interesting because of the life of Paul Auerbach. Wilderness Medicine is a discipline that all medical students know about in 2021 because of Paul Auerbach. While most of us won’t go on to fill 56 pages of a CV, because of the man that did, many of us will carry on his vision through our work: serving and doing our best to live our best lives and to make the world a better place.”
- Liz Edelstein, MD, FACEP, FAWM
WMS Wilderness Medicine Magazine In Memoriam, Paul S. Auerbach, MD, MS, FACEP, FAAEM, MFAWM (Hon.): Husband, Father, Son, Mentor, Friend, Innovator, Inventor, Writer, Editor, Educator, Rescuer, Visionary, and Hero by Liz Edelstein, MD.
Musa Masala’s Remembering Dr. Paul Auerbach.
Stanford Emergency Medicine’s Dr. Paul Auerbach.
ACEP Remembers Wilderness Medicine Pioneer Dr. Paul Auerbach.
Memories of Paul - submit yours to share with Paul's family and/or used in future tributes in WMS publications.
The tribute Paul Auerbach Lectureship Fund.
Enviromedics: The Impact of Climate Change on Human Health one of Paul’s greatest passion projects, co-authored with Jay Lemery, MD.
Paul’s major textbooks Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine, Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine, and Medicine for the Outdoors.