Your WEM Fortnightly Round-Up

A new chapter in exploration: Traverse Expeditions

From the deserts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the High Himalaya of Bhutan, a new science-led expedition platform is beginning to take shape.

World Extreme Medicine founder Mark Hannaford has launched Traverse Expeditions, bringing host nations, scientists, clinicians and educators together to explore what extreme environments can teach us about medicine, human adaptation, environmental resilience and planetary health.

Discover the first planned programmes and the ambition to create lasting value for the people and places involved.

New Research Highlights the Value of Medics Embedded in Remote Teams

A pilot study from northern Italy has demonstrated how placing greater clinical capability directly within a ski patrol team can change the care delivered before a casualty reaches hospital.

Across 595 rescues, an enhanced patrol that included a critical care nurse and on-call medical consultant was able to provide earlier treatment, administer medication and make more informed decisions about spinal motion restriction, evacuation and onward referral.

Although the study focused on a ski area, the principle applies across remote and expedition environments. When an incident happens hours or even days from definitive care, having a trained medic within the team can significantly influence what happens next. They can assess the casualty, begin treatment, monitor changes, manage limited resources and help determine whether the expedition can continue, alter its plans or initiate an evacuation.

It reinforces why medical capability should be built into expedition planning from the beginning. At WEM, we train clinicians to adapt their existing skills to remote environments and become effective members of expedition teams when access to conventional healthcare is limited.

Lost for 400 years: an explorer’s remarkable travel account

In the early 16th century, apothecary and explorer Tomé Pires travelled through India, Malacca and the Malay Archipelago, documenting the people, landscapes, trade networks and cultures he encountered.

His completed work, Suma Oriental, later disappeared for centuries. Its eventual rediscovery began with a single footnote and took historian Armando Cortesão through archives across Europe in a determined search for the missing volume.

The result is a brilliant story connecting exploration, early medicine, global history and some very patient archival detective work.

Delivering emergency care as the hospital shook

As a 7.7 earthquake struck Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, clinicians faced an urgent decision. Delaying Maria Florida Nogo Kelen’s emergency caesarean could have placed her life at risk, but the operation would need to continue through aftershocks and intermittent power outages.

Using torches to see as the hospital shook around them, the team delivered Maria’s daughter two months prematurely. Gempita was born weighing 1.3 kilograms and remained stable in an incubator moved into a medical tent outside.

The account offers a powerful insight into clinical decision-making when equipment, infrastructure and the safety of both patients and healthcare teams are under extraordinary pressure.