Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine

01/16/2025

Join us in congratulating the recipient of our 2024 Mountain Laurel Award, Dr. Chris Davis!

Given annually, the Mountain Laurel Award is a recognition of lifetime achievement for individuals who have advanced wilderness medicine in the American Southeast in remarkable and lasting ways. This surely applies to Dr. Davis, who has been a major force in southeastern wilderness medicine throughout the 21st century. Dr. Davis has worked as a paramedic, a wilderness outdoor guide, and even started his own wilderness medicine school. He completed the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship, and after graduation from medical school maintained American Mountain Guides Association Single Pitch instructor status and ACA Level 4 Swiftwater Rescue instructor status.

Dr. Davis has taught the Wilderness Medical Society student elective in our region, and developed multiple local and regional educational innovations. These include the first university-based wilderness medicine fellowship in North Carolina and construction from scratch of a week-long high angle technical rescue course directed at medical students and fellows. Dr. Davis is medical advisor or director for multiple outdoor programming and EMS agencies, and serves on multiple regional response teams. He is a key player in the development of what has been affectionately termed the “southeastern mafia”, a recognition of the movement of the American southeast to a place where it is perceived “wilderness medicine doesn’t happen” to one now recognized as a nationally leading region for this specialty.

These achievements pale in comparison to the human contributions that Dr. Davis has made to our southeastern community. He is universally beloved, and many have a story about how he has helped them or mentored them in some way. For the beloved person that he is in our southeastern wilderness medicine community, Dr. Davis is a worthy recipient of this prestigious award!

Pictured below, Dr. Ben Abo presented the Mountain Laurel award to Dr. Davis at the NAEMSP Wilderness EMS Committee meeting last week in San Diego.

10/01/2024

09/23/2024

In February of this year, we were pleased to present Dr. Michelle Curry with our prestigious Mountain Laurel Award, earned in part for her transformative leadership of the U.S. Forest Service EMS program. It’s a bit of a long story, but although her award ceremony featured much pomp and circumstance, only recently were we able to furnish the actual plaque!

So, here it is in all its glory. Thanks again, Dr. Curry, for everything you’ve done (and are doing) for wilderness EMS, in Appalachia and nationwide.

08/07/2024

Come one, come all to our new, free ACWM lecture series that offers FAWM credit. See our brochure for Seth Hawkins, MD, MFAWM's live virtual Spinal Trauma in the Backcountry lecture on 8/12/24 at 5 PM EDT and scan the QR code to register in advance.

05/27/2024

We're kicking off our 2024 Lecture Series with Dr. Ben Abo lecturing on Snakes of the American Southeast. He'll be speaking on June 19th via teleconference at 5PM. Registration is free and full FAWM credits (Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine) are available via the Wilderness Medical Society! Registration is at this QR code or via this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pd-uurzwuHtTL5grvoQ8wxEG89um6FmZm
Register today to secure your spot!

02/16/2024

Dr. Michelle Curry has won our prestigious Mountain Laurel Award!

The Mountain Laurel Award is conferred in recognition of "extraordinary, lasting and substantial contributions to wilderness medicine in the American Southeast", and its recipients are considered to be among the elite wilderness medicine experts and practitioners of the Southeast United States. Pictured below, Board of Directors member Dr. Seth Collings Hawkins presented the award to Dr. Curry in front of a packed house at Great Smoky Mountains National Park's annual EMS refresher course.

Dr. Curry is the United States Forest Service National Medical Director, and the first person to hold that title. In her pioneering role at USFS, she has led the establishment- from the ground up- of a unified EMS program across the Forest Service's many regions that now includes 80 local physician medical advisors and approximately 1,000 USFS employees credentialed to deliver emergency medical care throughout the agency's law enforcement & investigations, fire & aviation, recreation, dispatch and forestry divisions. Her work also touches many other facets of wilderness medicine in the Southeast, from oversight of wildland firefighting medical care standards to helping to train future wilderness medicine physicians in the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship.

Prior to her role at USFS, Dr. Curry was an active and reserve US Army emergency medicine physician, medical officer for the National Disaster Medical System, and an attending physician in emergency departments in Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina. She was also the EMS medical director for Avery County EMS in NC. In addition to her role as USFS National Medical Director, she is also the local emergency medical advisor (medical director) of the Blue Ridge Parkway. In 2023, she was named a Fellow in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine of the Wilderness Medical Society.

08/09/2023

Another great example of the cool opportunities coming out of the southern Appalachian region!

05/07/2023

Breaks Interstate Park is located on the Kentucky/Virginia border, and is jointly run by both states through an interstate compact.

Bravo!