Volume 27, Number 2 - Wilderness Medical Society

SOCIETY MATTERS
Grant Winners
The Wilderness Medical Society is keenly interested in fostering
awareness and appreciation among healthcare professionals and scientists
for the research of health-related concerns in outdoor and wilderness
activities. The Charles S. Houston and Research-in-Training Awards are
selected on a competitive basis to provide funding for a research project
in the field of wilderness medicine. The Charles S. Houston Award is
for medical students and the Research-in-Training Award is for residents
and fellows of an accredited graduate medical education program or
doctoral candidates working towards a PhD. The Herbert N. Hultgren
Award is for members of the WMS. The 2010 Winners of the WMS
Research Awards and their areas of research are:
Charles S. Houston Award ($6000): Gabriel Willman MD, University
Eye Hospital and Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Department for
Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Germany. Research Project:
Functional and structural analysis of ophthalmological changes caused
by high altitude in relation to Acute Mountain Sickness.
Herbert N. Hultgren Award ($5000): Matthew Sanborn MD,
University of Pennsylvania Department of Neurosurgery. Research
Project: Developing An Animal Model for High-Altitude Cerebral
Edema for in vivo Testing of Cerebral NO Activity.
Research-in-Training Award ($4000): Peter Byers MD, Eastern Virginia
Medical School Department of Emergency Medicine. Research Project:
A Novel Approach to Killing Ixodes scapularis and Dermacentor andersoni
Ticks in Humans.
2010 winter conference in
park city, Utah
The Winter Conference in Park City was packed full with workshops,
plenary sessions, skiing, boarding, and fun fun fun! And as it turned
out…it does have the Greatest Snow on Earth!
Attendees commented on the expansive program, excellent
speakers, and exciting workshops (especially those on the
mountain). We were fortunate to have many of the celebrated
experts in wilderness medicine disciplines on our faculty, as
well as new stimulating speakers, topics, and workshops.
Dr. David Shlim, our distinguished
banquet speaker, gave a presentation
entitled Limitless Compassion based in
part on the book he co-authored with
Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche Medicine
Dr. Peter Hackett and Compassion: A Tibetan Lama’s
Guidance for Caregivers (Summerville,
MA: Wisdom Publications; 2004). Dr. Shlim
concluded our winter conference by beautifully
articulating how to encompass compassion into
our encounters with our patients and in our
everyday life.
Plan now on attending the WMS Winter
Conference in Park City FEBRUARY 2011!
Dr. David Shlim
Call for Abstracts: 2010 WMS Annual
Summer Meeting
The Wilderness Medical Society is pleased to announce the call for
abstracts for the 27th Annual Meeting of the Wilderness Medical Society,
July 23-28, 2010 in Snowmass, Colorado.
The abstract session will focus on recent research covering the entire
spectrum of Wilderness Medicine. Submissions should be limited
to research presentations. Abstracts may be submitted for both oral
and poster presentations using the specific format described below.
Abstract submissions must be received by June 15, 2010.
Posters should be no larger than 3-feet high by 6-feet long. Boards for
presenting posters will be available at the meeting. Authors are encouraged
to be by their poster for viewing during their day of presentation. Oral
presentations will be 10 minutes with 5 minutes for questions.
All accepted abstracts will be considered for publication in Wilderness &
Environmental Medicine.
The Abstract Application (cover sheet, abstract form and a sample
abstract) are available at wms.org/research/abstract_applic.asp.
Member Get-A-Member Award
You still have time! The Awards Committee announced a new award
to be given at the Annual Meeting in Snowmass. This award challenges
members to bring new members into the WMS—and it has some great
benefits. One regular member and one student member who recruit
the most new members (regular members/associates/students) will
receive free registration to the Annual Meeting and a copy of Dr. Paul S.
Auerbach’s seminal textbook Wilderness Medicine.
Call for Authors
The WMS is in the process of developing a Community Education
Lecture Series similar to the professional Educational Lecture Series
already available at wms.org. This new series is designed for the wilderness
medicine provider who wants to teach the general public. Many of your
favorite content friendly topics are being developed in a format for the
lay person with no wilderness medicine knowledge.
If you are a WMS member with experience or interest in a wilderness
medicine topic and interested in authoring a lecture for the Community
Education Series, contact: Dr. Debra Stoner, deb.stoner@gmail.com.
Educational Lectures
If you are not familiar with the WMS Educational Lecture Series,
you able to review some samples by logging into the Member area
(wms.org/members/memberlogon.asp), then look for “free sample”
under Announcements on your Member’s home page. These are readyto-use
PowerPoint presentations with complete lecturer’s notes on
these topics: Hazardous Marine Life, Wild Animal Attacks, Accidental
Hypothermia, Wilderness Dermatology, Wilderness Ophthalmology,
Submersion Injuries, Diarrhea from Foreign and Wilderness Travel,
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency, Current Concepts in Dive
Medicine, Field Water Disinfection, Frostbite and Cold Injuries, High
Altitude Medicine, Venomous Snakebite Management, and Venomous
Arthropods. Other topics such as Lightning Safety, Orthopedic Injuries,
Heat Illness and Women’s Health are in development.
26 WILDERNESS MEDICINE // Spring 2010