The Wilderness Medical Society was created on 15 February 1983 by three physicians from California, United States — Dr. Paul Auerbach, Dr. Ed Geehr, and Dr. Ken Kizer.

[1] It is the largest international non-profit membership organization devoted to addressing wilderness medicine challenges, more specifically defined as "medical care delivered in those areas where fixed or transient geographic challenges reduce availability of, or alter requirements for, medical or patient movement resources".

This curriculum is completed over a maximum of a 5-year period and culminates in the award of Fellow being bestowed at the Society's annual conference.

The Master Fellow degree program is an advanced, post-fellow certification that was created to denote individuals who have excelled in a specific sub-discipline within the scope of wilderness medicine in addition to being fellows of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.

The master program is an attempt to: The curriculum for participants wishing to gain fellowship is modular and is divided into electives, required topics, and experience: Required/core topics are divided into twelve sub-headings:[14] FAWM credits can be gained in a number of ways such as: The Wilderness Medical Society organizes annual conferences and meetings for members and interested parties.