Nearly 25 years ago, inspired by a deep love for the great outdoors and a vision for hands-on education, Lori A. Weichenthal, MD, started the UCSF Fresno Wilderness Medicine Elective for fourth-year medical students.
Weichenthal, then UCSF Emergency Medicine faculty at UCSF Fresno, created the course to attract prospective medical residents to UCSF Fresno and give them a close-up look at its distinguished Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
Colleagues, students, friends and her husband, Dan Wolfe, gathered recently to officially rename the program the Lori A. Weichenthal Wilderness Medicine Elective, honoring her lasting impact on emergency medicine, physician wellness, and wilderness medicine education.
Wilderness medicine focuses on diagnosing and treating injuries and illnesses in austere environments where medical resources are limited and hospital access is often far away.
Weichenthal was a champion for medical education and physician wellness. She passed away on National Women Physicians Day on Feb. 3, 2023. A wellness room, a place for physicians to rest between shifts at Community Regional Medical Center, was dedicated in her honor earlier this year. Her legacy was commemorated again on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, during an intimate gathering at the Wawona Campsite in Yosemite National Park, home base to the wilderness medicine course she created.
UCSF Fresno Vice Dean Jose M. Barral Sanchez, MD, PhD, expressed gratitude to Lori and Dan, highlighting Dan’s devoted support of Lori, including helping her set up the course.
“I did not have the privilege of meeting Lori, but you can feel her influence through all of you,” said Barral Sanchez. He noted how Weichenthal’s spirit will continue to live on through every learner who takes the course.
The two-week course, held every September, blends academic medicine with field experience. Students spend the first week taking part in lectures and practicing clinical skills at UCSF Fresno before heading into Yosemite during the second week to put their skills to the test.
This year, 13 students from UCSF and medical schools across California and the nation took part. For the past few years, the cohort has also been joined by students from the UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education for a day of land and water search-and-rescue medical response, paired with a chance to experience one of the country's most popular national parks.
Surrounded by nature, towering trees, and a nearby fire pit ready to be lit, attendees gathered in a wide circle. They shared memories of Weichenthal’s steady leadership and compassionate mentorship.
Course Director Michelle Storkan, MD, kicked off the tributes by reflecting on Dr. Weichenthal’s ever-calm guidance. Storkan came to UCSF Fresno as a Wilderness Medicine fellow in 2015. The following year, Weichenthal handed direction of the medical student elective to her.
“She was a beautiful person and an incredible mentor and teacher. She touched a lot of lives,” said Storkan. “The wilderness program at UCSF Fresno is really because of everything she did over the years here.”
Lily Hitchner, MD, an alumna of the Wilderness Medicine elective, was inspired to match into UCSF Fresno’s Emergency Medicine Residency Program. She now serves as UCSF faculty at UCSF Fresno in the Community Regional Emergency Department, Associate Residency Program Director, and coach and director of Student Success for SJV PRIME. She also shared memories before leading the group in a guided meditation.
The medical student elective is just one aspect of UCSF Fresno’s robust wilderness medicine portfolio which leverages its unique geographic location near California's premier national parks.
Led by faculty and residents, UCSF Fresno trains park rangers from Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and parks nationwide through the Parkmedic Program which was started in 1977. Every other year, rangers complete a rigorous six-week primary certification course to sharpen their emergency medical services skills.
The UCSF Fresno Wilderness Medicine Fellowship, also started by Weichenthal in 2008, was one of just four such programs at the time. The one-year program allows physicians to hone their practice skills at one of California's busiest emergency departments, Community Regional, while exploring areas of wilderness medicine. Before passing in 2023, she worked with other fellowship program directors nationwide to develop standardized curriculum.
Whether providing real-time medical guidance to backcountry first responders, training elite park rangers, or treating patients transferred from the parks at Community Regional, UCSF Fresno is at the center of wilderness medicine.
“The dream would be for us to be able to offer wilderness medicine to more students and to more people,” Storkan said.
Through the newly renamed elective, Dr. Weichenthal’s guiding light will continue to attract students to UCSF Fresno and ready them for the call of the wild.
