Wilderness Medicine Institute

The Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School (WMI of NOLS) was founded in 1990 by Buck Tilton and Melissa Gray. WMI was originally to be called SOLO West, but was incorporated as the Wilderness Medicine Institute instead. WMI was originally headquartered in Pitkin, CO. Through August of 1999, WMI offered the SOLO curriculum, predominantly on wilderness medicine courses in the western US.

On September 1, 1999, WMI was purchased by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and officially changed its name to WMI of NOLS. The school maintained its headquarters in CO until the summer of 2002, at which point the offices and administrative staff moved to Lander, WY and into the newly finished NOLS headquarters.

WMI Australia began in 1999, offering the WMI curriculum in Australia and Southeast Asia. Organizacion para Educacion y Protecion Ambiental (OpEPA) began offering the WMI curriculum in Colombia and other parts of South America in 2004. In January of 2007, WMI entered into a partnership with Landmark Learning of Cullowhee, NC in order to provide the WMI curriculum in the American southeast.

WMI provides Wilderness First Aid (WFA), Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA), Wilderness First Responder (WFR), Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals (WUMP), Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT), Wilderness Medicine Practices and Protocols (WMPP) and Wilderness First Responder Recertification courses. WMI also provides custom courses, courses for medical students and physicians and combination courses in conjunction with NOLS Professional Training.

WMI runs approximately 400 courses each year throughout the world and has trained over 65,000 students.