The need for sound medical advice in the mountains has never been greater as more and more people around the world participate in climbing and mountaineering adventures both on the amateur and professional level. The role of the UIAA Medical Commission, through its recommendation papers, advice pages and the Mountain Medicine Diploma is to give the best possible advice through its network of mountain medicine experts, all medical doctors.
The UIAA Medical Commission met for their annual meeting in Bolzano, Italy from 7-8 November 2019. Dr. Hermann Brugger and his team at Eurac Research, hosted the Commission delegates in their new facilities and organized a visit of the extreme enviro...
The 2019 UIAA General Assembly, hosted by the Cyprus Mountaineering Climbing & Orienteering Federation, was held in Larnaca and Ayia Napa, Cyprus on Saturday 2 November. Delegates from 51 member associations and 42 countries were present. Followi...
Our latest focus on a UIAA MedCom high altitude advice paper focuses on the effect of extremes of temperature on drugs. It is available in English, Czech, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese and Polish. This paper is primarily intended for doctors, non-...
It was with concern that the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA), the Confederation of African Mountain Clubs (CAMC) and the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), came to hear of the proposal to build a cableway up Kilimanjaro...
The Medical Commission was founded during the 1981 UIAA General Assembly. Its history dates back to an earlier time when there were only a few doctors representing the largest mountaineering federations. The Commission has grown to include 22 delegated doctors from 18 different mountaineering federations, as well as 16 corresponding members from all over the world.
In 1984 the Commission held a conference in Chamonix, with over 350 participants. There the delegates decided that it was necessary to form an international organisation which was open to everyone interested in mountain medicine, also those who are not members of the UIAA.
As a result, the Medical Commission founded the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) in 1986. This society deals with all the different aspects of mountain medicine, mainly on a scientific level. Today the ISMM has 450 members.
Over the years the UIAA Medical Commission has worked very closely with the Medical Commission of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). The current presidents of the UIAA Medical Commission and the MedCom ICAR are always on the advisory board of the ISMM.
Over the last few years, the UIAA Medical Commission has worked closely together with the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS), a leading organisation dealing with all different aspects of wilderness medicine (mountaineering, diving, space medicine, survival in deserts etc). WMS is mainly active in the USA and has about 3,500 members.
The Commission collects, evaluates and discusses medical data and tries to reach an international consensus on difficult issues of prevention and treatment of illness and injuries.
All the members of the Commission are doctors specialised in mountain medicine, and the Commission is committed to making sure that every year more doctors get this training.
The Commission checks the quality of the different courses of mountain medicine for doctors and in collaboration with ISMM and CISA/ICAR has set standards for the International Diploma of Mountain Medicine. In ten countries our members have founded national societies which organise courses in mountain medicine for doctors and mountaineers.
To continue to improve the information we give to climbers, the Commission arranges international congresses in collaboration with its partners ISMM, MedCom ICAR and WMS. It continues to support the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM), which conducts scientific research on mountain medicine. The Commission also works closely with other international organisations dealing with mountain medicine, such as specialists in Olympic sports medicine.
Urs HEFTI (President), Switzerland (SAC)
Thomas KUEPPER, Germany (DAV), Vice President
Erhan ALEMDAR, Turkey (TMF)
Jae Yong AHN, Korea (KAF)
AliReza BEHPOUR, Iran (I.R.IMSCF)
Pierre BOUZAT, France (FFCAM)
Sundeep DILLON, UK (BMC)
Anil GURTOO, India (IMF)
David HILLEBRANDT, UK (BMC)
Johan HOLMGREN, Sweden (SKF)
Alzamani IDROSE, Malaysia (PKN)
Anna MALLADA CARCELLER, Spain (FEEC)
Shigeru MASUYAMA, Japan (JMA)
Kaste MATEIKAITE, Lithuania (LMA)
John MCCALL, Canada (ACC)
Ludomir MLADENOV, Bulgaria (BCMF)
Patrick PETERS, Luxembourg (FLERA)
George RODWAY, USA (AAC)
Giulio Sergio ROI, Italy (ISF)
Nima Namgyel SHERPA, Nepal (NMA)
Sonam Zangbu SHERPA, Nepal (NMA)
Rianne VAN DE SPEK, Marieke VAN VESSEM, Netherlands (NKBV)
Eduardo Garrigos VINHALES, Brazil (CBME)
Emma Linnea WICHARDT, Norway (NTK)
Peter MUIR
Giancelso AGAZZI, Italy
Marija ANDJELKOVIC, Serbia, (UIAA Anti-Doping Commission)
Corrado ANGELINI, Italy
Prof. Franz BERHOLD, Austria
Hermann BRUGGER, ISMM
Nenad DIKIC, Serbia, (UIAA Anti-Doping Commission)
Fidel EINENSOHN, ICAR
Yasser EL-SHEIKH, Canada (ACC)
Mercedes GALINDEZ, Argentina (FASA)
Tomaz GOSLAR, Slovenia (PZS)
Dominique JEAN, France (ISMM)
Alexander KOUKOUTSI, Greece
Amol KULKAMI, Tanzania
Heleen MEIJER, Netherlands (NKBV)
Hamid MOSAEDIAN, Iran
Audry MORRISON, UK (BMC)
Jargalsaikhan MUNKHDUL, Mongolia (MNCF)
Aleksey OVCHINNIKOV, Russia (RMF)
Peter PAAL, Austria (OGAHM)
Miguel REIS E SILVA, Portugal (FCMP)
Ivan ROTMAN, Czech Republic (CMF)
Volker SCHOEFFL
Daniel TREVENA, Australia (NZAC)
Justin VENABLE
Eckart VAN DELFT, South Africa (MCSA)
Shih-Hao WANG, Taiwan (CTAA)
Jeremy WINDSOR, UK (BMC)
The International Commission for Alpine Rescue ICAR was founded in 1948. ICAR is incorporated as an association under Swiss law, with its seat in Kloten, Switzerland. ICAR does not pursue any commercial purposes and is not profit oriented.
