The agenda for the 2023 Expedition Medicine National Conference is now posted!
We are pleased to include a number of interesting and diverse topics covering wilderness medicine, tropical medicine, travel medicine, snake envenomations, medical evacuations, and more.
Please refer to the agenda below for the full list of topics and speakers for our upcoming conference!
Friday, April 21st, 2023
8:00-9:00 am The Expedition Physician, Donner
9:00-10:00 am Malaria, Townes
10:00-10:15am Break
10:15-11:15 am Backcountry Medical Kits, Donner
11:15-12:15 pm Travel Vaccines, Freedman
12:15-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-2:30 pm North American Snake Envenomations, Bush
2:30-3:30 pm Viral Diseases in Travelers, Freedman
3:30-4:30 pm Geospatial Technology in Humanitarian & Disaster Response, Greenough
4:30-5:30 pm Disaster on Everest, Kamler
Saturday, April 22nd, 2023
8:00-9:00 am BackcountryWater Disinfection & Purification, Donner
9:00-10:00 am Schistosomiasis, Freedman
10:00-10:15am Break
10:15-11:15 am High-Altitude Medicine, Donner
11:15-12:15 pm International Snake Envenomations, Bush
12:15-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-2:30 pm Cruise Ship Medical Evacuation, Callahan
2:30-3:30 pm Fever in the Returned Traveler, Freedman
At ExpedMed, we are committed to bringing together the best faculty in the world to teach wilderness and expedition medicine.
Our 2023 event that will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, from April 21-22, 2023, is already shaping up to be one of our best events on record.
In addition to our previously mentioned faculty, we are happy to announce the addition of Dr. Seth Hawkins to our faculty list.
Dr. Hawkins is an Emergency Medicine physician with extensive experience teaching wilderness medicine and leading EMS crews into remote and austere regions. He is the chief editor of the text Wilderness EMS and the founder of the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship. Dr. Hawkins has won numerous awards as an instructor and researcher, and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University. For Dr. Hawkins’ full bio, please see here.
Please join us in April at the Expedition Medicine National Conference!
It’s our pleasure to announce that the 2023 Expedition Medicine National Conference will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, on April 21-22, 2023.
Confirmed faculty include:
Gregory H. Bledsoe, MD, MPH, MBA, Director, ExpedMed, Chief Editor, Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, Little Rock, AR
Howard Donner, MD, Expedition Physician, Co-Author The Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine, Truckee, CA
Sean Bush, MD, FACEP, President of North American Society of Toxinology, Durham, NC
David O. Freedman, MD, FASTMH, FIDSA, FISTM, Professor Emeritus of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Past President American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, Birmingham, AL
Gregg Greenough, MD, MPH, MS, Co-Director of the Humanitarian Geo-Analytics Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Boston, MA
Kenneth M. Kamler, MD, Expedition Physician, Author of Surviving the Extremes, New York, NY
David A. Townes, MD, MPH, DTM&H, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Global Health, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
Details of the event can be found at ExpedMed.org .
ExpedMed is excited to announce that the Expedition Medicine National Conference is now accredited for 16 hours of nursing CEUs!
Nurses work all over the world in some of the most extreme environments imaginable. The Expedition Medicine National Conference trains nurses to take their skills into the world's most remote and unique regions, linking them to the best teaching and an impeccable network of colleagues and mentors.
Be sure to let your nurse friends and colleagues know about the Expedition Medicine National Conference, and if you're an adventurous nurse, we'd love to see you in Little Rock this March 9-10, 2018!
We are pleased to announce that the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Office of Global Health will be participating as a co-sponsor in the Expedition Medicine National Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas this March 9th & 10th!
As the only academic health center in the state of Arkansas, UAMS is at the forefront of research and medical education throughout the region and across the United States. With the UAMS Office of Global Health, the medical center extends its reach globally. Lead by Dr. Nickolas Zaller, the mission of the Office of Global Health is to, "facilitate capacity building, equitable access and education to promote sustainable healthcare through local and global partnerships."
We at ExpedMed are thrilled to have the participation of the state's storied academic medical center in our event, and are even more excited about the opportunity to partner with UAMS in the training of clinicians for medical work in underserved regions around the world!
We're pleased to announce that Dr. Tim Erickson, clinical toxicologist and faculty member of the famed Harvard Humanitarian Initiative will be coming to Little Rock to teach at the Expedition Medicine National Conference!
Dr. Erickson has worked all over the world in a variety of clinical and disaster settings. He currently serves as the Chief of Medical Toxicology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and his renowned as a researcher and teacher has won him numerous national awards.
At ExpedMed, we're committed to providing the best instructors and the most practical lectures on Expedition Medicine. Dr. Erickson will be teaching on arthropod envenomations, expedition toxicology, and marine envenomations this March. Be sure to register early for the Expedition Medicine National Conference as space is limited and registrations are already filling up!
Here is Dr. Erickson's full bio:
Dr. Timothy B. Erickson is a new HHI Core Faculty member with expertise in environmental toxicology and crisis in climate change. He also has active humanitarian health projects in conflict regions of Ukraine and Syria.
Dr. Erickson is an emergency medicine physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he serves as the Chief of Medical Toxicology in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Erickson earned his M.D. degree from The Chicago Medical School in 1986. He completed emergency medicine residency training at the University of Illinois and his medical toxicology fellowship at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Erickson is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Medical Toxicology, American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, and the prestigious National Geographic Explorers Club.
Previously, Dr. Erickson served as the Director for the UIC Center for Global Health and Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Erickson also served as the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Graduate Medical Education, and Continuing Medical Education at the UIC College of Medicine. He was an Acting and Interim Head in the Department of Emergency Medicine and has held other multifaceted appointments ranging from EM Residency Program Director to Chief of Medical Toxicology.
Dr. Erickson has been a member of multiple editorial boards and has a prolific academic history including publishing over 120 original journal articles and book chapters as well as editing 4 major textbooks. He has presented over 100 national and international invited lectures related to emergency medicine, toxicology, humanitarian global health, and wilderness/expedition medicine.
Dr. Erickson’s federal grant funding includes HRSA sponsored grants related to global preparedness and bioterrorism and a Medtronic foundation grant addressing acute cardiovascular disease in India. He has extensive international experience in Africa (Rwanda, Sudan, Kenya), Asia (India, Vietnam, Nepal), South America (Brazil, Peru, Argentina), Europe (Kosovo, Ukraine, France) and Antarctica.
This month an 11 foot long, 500 lb alligator was found just outside of Dumas, Arkansas.( http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/sep/19/alligator-killed-arkansas-creek-weighed-over-500-p/ )
At the Expedition Medicine National Conference we have an entire lecture entitled, "Large Carnivorous Reptiles" where we discuss how to avoid injury when dealing with large reptiles like alligators (and crocodiles, anacondas, Komodo dragons, and the like), and also how to treat the wounds if an attack occurs.
Come to the most fascinating and practical CME course on practicing medicine "in the wild." Register today while seats are still available!
Malaria, Refugee Health, High Altitude medicne, Ebola, snake envenomations...whew!
How do you prepare to work as a medical professional in a remote setting when the possibilities for injury or illness are so diverse?
At the Expedition Medicine National Conference we've designed the curriculum to offer a wide range of interesting topics for those who want to learn more about practicing in extreme and remote environments.
Check out our recently published curriculum taught by international experts. CME doesn't get any better than this!
Friday, March 9th
8am-9am The Expedition Physician (Donner)
9am-10am Travel Immunizations (Townes)
10am-10:30am Break
10:30am-11:30am Large Carnivorous Reptiles (Bledsoe)
At ExpedMed, we pride ourselves in creating the best CME events for adventurous medical professionals.
Excellent CME begins with excellent instructors and so it's with great enthusiasm that we introduce another of our stellar faculty members, Dr. David Townes.
Dr. Townes is an Emergency Medicine physician and member of the Global Health faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is an expert in tropical medicine and working in extreme environments, and he served as a co-editor of our textbook, Expedition and Wilderness Medicine.
We're incredibly honored that Dr. Townes will be visiting Little Rock in March to speak at the Expedition Medicine National Conference. Reserve your seat today for this exciting event!
Here is Dr. Townes' full bio:
David Townes, MD, MPH, DTM&H, received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts and completed his internship and residency in emergency medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he also completed a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine earning a Master's Degree in Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in Health Policy and Administration. He is board certified in emergency medicine. He also holds a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Townes joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 2001 in the Division of Emergency Medicine. In addition, he is currently a Public Health and Medical Technical Advisor to the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Medical Epidemiologist in the Emergency Response and Recovery Branch (ERRB) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this capacity his interests and responsibilities include providing expert technical advice, formulating and conveying OFDA public health policy and technical positions, reviewing all health proposals submitted to OFDA, and design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of some OFDA funded programs.
Previously, Dr. Townes was appointed as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer and Medical Epidemiologist in the Malaria Branch at the CDC and served as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS).
In addition to his global health experience, Dr. Townes has worked extensively in the areas of wilderness and expedition medicine, including serving as an expedition physician in Antarctica, Costa Rica, and on Mt. Kilimanjaro. He has been a physician member of the National Ski Patrol and the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue Team. He is an editor of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.
Dr. Townes has worked in Antarctica, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Russia, Senegal, Tanzania, Turkey, the West Indies, and Zambia.
His research interests include response to complex humanitarian emergencies, disease surveillance in humanitarian emergencies, health policy for humanitarian emergencies, refugee and internally displaced populations, and malaria.
ExpedMed is excited to announce that Dr. Howard Donner is confirmed for our Little Rock event on March 9-10, 2018!
Dr. Donner is one of the leading voices of Wilderness Medicine and is an experienced expert in remote medical care.
Here is Dr. Donner's biography:
Howard Donner, MD is a highly acclaimed speaker on Wilderness Medicine. Renowned as one of the “world’s most experienced expedition physicians”, Dr. Donner is co-author of The Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine, worked on numerous medical projects in the Himalayas, 3 seasons as a rescue doctor on Mt. McKinley in Alaska for the National Park Service at the 14,000 foot medical/rescue station, expedition physician on the first American ascent of Kangchenjunga, the world’s third largest peak (28,000 feet), Olympic physician for the United States White Water Team in Atlanta (1996) and 5 years of service as a medical operations consultant for NASA. Dr. Donner has been prominently featured in two award-winning NOVA television documentaries including; "Deadly Ascent" which chronicles mountain medicine and research on 20,320 ft Denali (Mount McKinley); and "Everest - The Death Zone". Donner served as expedition doctor on the 1998 NOVA Everest expedition, which was featured in the television documentary: "Everest: The Death Zone".
At a prior ExpedMed event, Dr. Howard Donner delivered a lecture on high altitude medicine. We recorded the talk and are making it available to ExpedMed fans as an example of the quality of teaching displayed at ExpedMed.
Howard is an author and highly experienced expedition physician who has traveled the world and lectures to thousands of physicians annually.
Take a look at this lecture, and if you want more, be sure to register for our Expedition Medicine National Conference that will be in Little Rock, Arkansas, March 9-10, 2018!
One of our ExpedMed faculty was in Little Rock this past weekend speaking at the Arkansas Heart Summit!
Dr. Ken Kamler was the keynote speaker at the Summit this year, an event that was attended by 400 clinicians from around the state of Arkansas. On Friday evening, Dr. Kamler told his gripping story of the 1996 blizzard on Mount Everest that claimed the lives of numerous climbers. Dr. Kamler was the only physician on the mountain that day, and his photos and anecdotes about the incident were riveting.
At the end of his talk, Dr. Kamler received a standing ovation from the crowd led by Dr. Bruce Murphy, CEO of the Arkansas Heart Hospital.
It was fantastic to have Dr. Kamler here in Arkansas, and it will be great to welcome him back to Little Rock this March 9-10, 2018 for the Expedition Medicine National Conference!
Mrs. Sara Bledsoe, Dr. Greg Bledsoe, and Dr. Ken Kamler at the Arkansas Heart Summit
We're pleased to announce out newest faculty addition to the Expedition Medicine National Conference: Michael V. Callahan MD DTM&H MSPH.
Dr. Callahan is a well-known expert in the Infectious Disease Division of Massachusetts General Hospital. He has lead numerous research projects in his area of expertise, and from 2005-2012 he led DARPA's $270M biodefense therapeutics program.
Dr. Callahan is a frequent national lecturer and excellent teacher. We're incredibly excited to have Dr. Callahan on our faculty list for the March 9-10, 2018 Expedition Medicine National Confernence in Little Rock. Be sure to register early as space is limited!
Dr. Callahan's full profile:
"Michael Callahan is a physician scientist boarded in medicine, ID, tropical medicine (DTM&H), Mass Casualty Care (DMC) and Rescue Medicine Command MD#17. Dr. Callahan's clinical appointments are at MGH/Harvard Medical School, and Visiting Professor at King Chulalongkorn Medical Center in Bangkok, Kaduna, Nigeria and Panama City, PN. His focus is emergency clinical trials for catastrophic infectious diseases such as Ebola, H5N1, MERS, Zika Virus, Chikungunya and complex dengue viral disease. He has developed drugs in market and expedited Phase 2 trials to support Animal Rule decisions including EUA-OLU trials for H5N1 (Jakarta), H7N9 (Nanjing), cutaneous anthrax (Gombe) burkholderia (Phnom Penh), Ebola (Isiro, Monrovia) and Lassa (Kaduna, Kano). From 2005-2012 he led DARPA's $270M biodefense therapeutics program where he developed multiple drugs in clinic and launched Prophecy, a international physician-to-foreign government clinical trials network to support regulatory decisions for zoonotic and biodefense therapies. In 2010 he was awarded the DARPA Achievement Award, the highest award in the Agency. Biotechnology achievements include: CRP-liposomal amphotericin (Ambisome; Gilead); cPG (Pfizer) MIMIC (Sanofi), pH1N1 vaccine, Nicotinia-expressed Ebola therapies (Leaf/Mapp); 2 vaccines from FSU BW programs and inception, development and funding of DARPA's Accelerated Pharmaceuticals Programs (AMP; 7 INDs; 3 NDAs), 7-Day Biodefense (4 INDs), the MIMIC platform, Rapid Altitude & Hypoxia Acclimatization (ENO; Phase 2),: Prophecy (7 international trial sites) and CLIO (licensing agreement disclosed under CDA). In 2012 Dr. Callahan was recruited as President of Unither Virology a United Therapeutics company (UTHR), leading a R&D team executing a $45M NIH contract to accelerate a antiviral from lead to Phase 2 for dengue and flu, and to develop next-generation antivirals against RSV, Zika, Chikungunya and transplant-associated viral indications."
One of the things that is most gratifying to us at ExpedMed is the excited feedback we get from those who come to our events.
Our ExpedMed events have been attended by hundreds of clinicians from all over the world, and it's always incredibly fun to hear their feedback and their stories.
At one of our past events we took some quick interviews with participants and asked what they thought of the teaching at ExpedMed. Curious? Click on the video below to see for yourself why people ar so excited about ExpedMed.
Don't forget to register for our Little Rock conference! It's coming in March and space is limited!
With most urban people having few encounters with truly wild animals these days, a lack of appreciation for the strength and, at times, ferocity of large predators unfortunately develops. People who take risks around these creatures sometimes learn the dangers too late.
In this video, a woman steps out of her car in a drive through safari in China and is attacked by a tiger. (Warning: Graphic Content)
At our ExpedMed events, we discuss animal attacks-- how to treat them, but also how to prevent them. Learn from our experts why wild animals should be respected and how best to protect yourself and your travel companions.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Will Smith, Medical Director of Teton National Park and Teton County Search and Rescue in Jackson, Wyoming is coming to Little Rock as a member of our ExpedMed faculty!
Dr. Smith has extensive experience in Wilderness Medicine and Search and Rescue. He has managed mass casualty incidents at high altitude, and has completed multiple deployments overseas as a Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserve Medical Corps.
We are honored to have Dr. Smith's involvement in our Expedition Medicine National Conference and look forward to hearing his lectures this March!
Dr. Smith's complete bio:
Dr. Smith practices Emergency Medicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is clinical WWAMI faculty for the University of Washington School of Medicine, as well as the Medical Director for the US National Park Service. Locally, he serves as the Co-Medical Director for Grand Teton National Park, Teton County Search & Rescue, Bridger Teton National Forest, and Jackson Hole Fire/EMS. Dr. Smith also serves as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps, recently completing his 3rd Middle East deployment. LTC Smith has practiced medicine around the world on 6 continents, from the 'Baghdad ER' to Easter Island. His combat experience combined with his pre-hospital EMS experience as a Paramedic, and his technical Search and Rescue skills have lead to numerous speaking engagements at Wilderness and EMS conferences/seminars around the world. Dr. Smith has also been appointed to several national committees (American Heart Association), authored numerous book chapters and consensus guidelines on Wilderness and Rescue Medicine, and serves as a Subject Matter Expert for DARPA. He has founded and runs Wilderness and Emergency Medicine Consulting (WEMC), LLC. More information can be found at www.wildernessdoc.com .
The faculty we invite to our ExpedMed events are true experts in their field. In this video, Dr. Tim Erickson discusses venomous snake bites and how to treat them. Tim is a clinical toxicologist at Harvard and will be coming to Little Rock this March to teach in our Expedition Medicine National Conference. Be sure to register early for our event. Space is limited!
An up close visit with one of the polar bears of Churchill.When we began building ExpedMed, we tried to look for ways to expose medical professionals to Expedition Medicine and Wilderness Medicine experiences in authentic ways. We recruited the best faculty and published an acclaimed textbook to help us present these important topics.
In 2009, we began offering CME trips to give our participants "hands on" experience in exotic environments.
Our goal was to partner with the best travel companies in the world. Our partners were expected to have not only exemplary records of safety and expertise in their travel programs, but also be committed to eco-friendly policies and sustainable growth practices that invest in local, indigenous poulations.
Downtown Churchill, CanadaOur first trip was with Tusker Trail, one of the preiminent safari and trekking companies in Africa. Tusker leads our Kilimanjaro CME trips each year.
Our most recent trip was to Churchill, Canada to visit this remote outpost that sees more polar bears than anywhere on earth. We selected travel company Frontiers North Adventures to partner with our ExpedMed team, and the result was a great experience in the "frozen tundra." This is a quick report on our trip...
Our trip was in later October and began in Winnipeg, Canada.
Winnipeg is a medium-sized city in which I was able to spend a few days. During my time in Winnipeg I took a recommendation from Urbanspoon and visited Hermanos, a local restaurant. The food at Hermanos was great. I went there twice and got great service and ate the ribeye each time. Fantastic. I even splurged one night and tried their Black Gold dessert which was incredible. Great place to eat.
The morning of the trip, our ExpedMed group boarded a shuttle and were transported with the rest of the Frontiers North crowd to a private jet for our flight to Churchill. It was efficient and stress-free. We had plenty of space to spread out and we landed in Churchill without any problems.
When we were on the tarmac, the wind was howling and the temperature was noticeably cooler than it was in Winnipeg.
I was ecstatic to finally be in Churchill, a town I had read about years before as an amazing intersection of polar bears and humans.
We spent that first day touring the small town and visiting the "polar bear jail," a place where polar bears are sent when they wander into town.
Churchill has been dealing with polar bears for so long, they have developed a system for protecting the humans in this remote outpost and also being respectful and protective of the bears. Any polar bear that wanders into Churchill is either tranquilized or, more often, caught in one of the large polar bear traps. Once captured, the bear is sent to the "jail" for a period of time then flown outside the city and released.
Late in the afternoon our group boarded a famed "Tundra Buggy" and headed to our lodging for the next few days: the Tundra Buggy Lodge.
Those touring Churchill can decide to stay in town or in the Tundra Buggy Lodge. Our group booked rooms in the Lodge so we could get the feel for staying out on the Tundra, in the environment of the awesome creatures we hoped to see.
The next few days went by quickly.
We spent our days rolling around the tundra looking for bears and the evenings sharing excellent food and good company in the Lodge with our fellow travelers.
While Churchill and the Tundra Buggy Lodge were interesting experiences, the bears were the stars, of course.
Polar bears are incredible animals, well-adapted to their frozen environment. I had seen a few during my trip to the North Pole in 2008, but these bears were up close-- really, really close. It was a privilege to see these magnificent beasts a few feet away from our Buggy, and a series of moments that I will never forget.
At some point in the future I hope to post some more about Churchill, our ExpedMed adventures, and polar bears, but for now I must round this up. I'll finish with a few more photos and a video of one of the big bears as it approached out Buggy heading for a seal carcass.
Our plane arrives in Churchill
A Tundra BuggyPolar bear in front of the Tundra Buggy LodgeTwo polar bears An ExpedMed lecture inside a Tundra Buggy
