Med Students Gone Wild

Tucson, Arizona – The Southwest campus of the Wyoming-based National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is buzzing with activity as it prepares to welcome 20 medical school students and two emergency physicians, who will return on Thursday, April 28 after having spent 25 days in the wilderness on their “Medicine in the Wild” expedition.

“Medicine in the Wild” is the ultimate combination of wilderness medicine, leadership and medical education, all taught in a remote environment. Forged nearly seven years ago by Massachusetts General Hospital faculty member, Dr. Stuart Harris, this unique partnership between Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (HAEMR) and the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) of NOLS is the only medical school elective that offers this breadth of curriculum on a true extended wilderness expedition.

Accompanying the 20 medical school students are two senior emergency medicine residents and four seasoned WMI of NOLS instructors who have spent a combined total of 950 weeks teaching leadership, outdoor skills, wilderness medicine, and environmental ethics in the backcountry. Each year Dr. Stuart Harris travels from Boston to spend the final days of the course lecturing, mentoring and reviewing presentations from students.

Join NOLS Southwest in welcoming this group back to “civilization” on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at NOLS Southwest, located at 2751 North Soldier Trail, Tucson. The group is expected to arrive from the field at approximately 11:00 am, and will be departing back to their respective medical institutions at 5:00 pm. For more details, contact NOLS Southwest Director Lindsay Nohl at [email protected] or Assistant Director Nick Cross at [email protected], or call NOLS Southwest at 520-749-0955.