Outdoor Medicine is a non-profit organisation fully named The Dutch Expedition & Wilderness Medical Society, founded in 2011. Its members work in different hospitals all over The Netherlands and abroad.
Aims
Outdoor Medicine aims to promote (international) cooperation between (para)medics with interest in the area of expedition medicine, wilderness medicine or practising medicine in extreme environments. Additionally, we aim to increase, stimulate, share and spread the knowledge in this area of practice and to promote ‘best medical practices’
Strategy
We reach our aims by organising workshops, lectures, courses, conferences, travels and other activities on expedition and wilderness medicine. We deliver medical know-how to expeditions, adventurous travels, extreme sports or voluntary work during preparation, on-site and by telemedicine.
The Board
Michiel van Veelen is one of the founders of Outdoor Medicine and loves to live in great places for his work. He currently works as a Researcher in Mountain Emergency Medicine in the Dolomites, and before that as a HEMS & Aeromedical Retrieval Physician for Okavango Air Rescue in Botswana. He is a fellow candidate at the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and holds a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) and a Diploma in Mountain Medicine (DiMM). He is both the course director and instructor for several courses. Michiel loves kite surfing, ski touring, alpine climbing, and mountain biking.
Anne Brants started to combine her passion for travelling with her professional education during medical school. She completed many courses abroad among which the Diploma of Mountain Medicine and she is a fellow in Wilderness Medicine. She now combines working as an emergency physician with guiding in expeditions. She worked as an expedition doctor in Arctic Norway, at Kilimanjaro, Antarctica, the Empty Quarter in Oman and Everest Basecamp. Anne played a major role in the initial medical response at Mount Everest after the earthquake in Nepal in 2015. Her mission is to educate non-medics and making sure that they are aware and prepared when going on an expedition.
Féline Scheijmans is a neurology resident and PhD student at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Active in the mountains and on the water from a young age. During my student years, the focus was mainly on sailing, but in recent years it has shifted more toward the mountains. After completing a successful Mountain Medicine summer course and the WLS course, I’ve been able to combine my work as a neurology resident with my passion for outdoor sports—both as an instructor for Outdoor Medicine and, in the fall of 2024, as a doctor for the Himalayan Rescue Association at the aid post in Pheriche (4200m).
Maran Fazzi is a medical doctor specialized in global health and tropical medicine, currently working in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania. Alongside her clinical work with the Maasai community, she supports remote sports events in Tanzania as a medical doctor. She has also worked in rural Northeast India. With Outdoor Medicine since 2018, she is now course director for the WLS:MP and a board member focusing on volunteer coordination, course leadership, and sustainability. She co-founded the Jungle Medicine Course in Suriname and completed the Mountain Medicine and DMLS courses. Her expedition experience includes five months as a ship’s doctor on a replica 600 BCE sailing vessel crossing the Atlantic and training Greenpeace action teams in Southeast Asia. In her free time, she’s often outdoors—surfing, diving, sailing, biking, climbing, or paragliding.
Pieter Simons is pursuing a PhD in respiratory physiology in the Anesthesiology department in Leiden. In the near future, he would like to bring clinical expertise to the outside world and vice versa. During his internships, he gained clinical experience abroad in Uganda and Mexico, in and outside the hospital. With Outdoor Medicine he joined the WLS and Mountain Medicine. Between clinical work at the emergency ward, he could sign on the Sleipnir and Wylde Swan as a ship doctor. Within Outdoor Medicine, Pieter is part of the editorial board and founder of Student Outdoor Medicine.
Tim van Riessen is a general practitioner and has worked as a resident (ANIOS) in the emergency department and the pediatric ward. During his studies, he spent time in South Africa and Uganda, and completed his research internship with the Extremes Research Group in Wales. As a doctor, he has sailed on the tall ship De Oosterschelde, worked in the refugee camp on Lesbos, and spent a season with the Himalayan Rescue Association in Nepal. Within Outdoor Medicine, he is an instructor for the Mountain Medicine Winter Edition, Wilderness Life Support (WLS), and the Student Outdoor Medicine Weekend. He prefers to spend his free time in the mountains or in a tent in the woods.
The Team
Maybritt Kuypers is an Emergency Medicine Physician and Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. She is one of the founders of Outdoor Medicine and WLS course director. She feels at home everywhere on planet Earth; has worked in tropical, polar, mountain and marine environments. Her biggest passion is human spaceflight. She is currently Flight Surgeon for the European Space Agency (ESA) and supporting astronaut missions to the International Space Station and beyond…
Wouter Jetten is one of the founders of Outdoor Medicine. Originally trained as Emergency physician, he worked as ship’s physician in the Arctic and expedition doctor on Kilimanjaro. He also gained experience in Cameroon and the Caribbean. Wouter is the driving force behind the Dive & Marine Life Support course, which will continue in 2022. He is also one of the course directors for the WLS course and currently exploring the possibilities for other specialized courses with partner organizations and within Outdoor Medicine itself. Wouter has a special interest in mountain & marine medicine.
Joost ten Brinke works as a Trauma Surgeon with previous working experience as a Tropical Medicine resident, at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. He is a Fellow candidate at the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, Utah and WLS instructor. In 2011 he participated in the British Expedition Medicine Course. In his time off Joost enjoys climbing in the Alps, has been on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, has been ice skating on the great lakes of Norway and is an enthusiastic beekeeper, caring for many hives
Remco Berendsen works as an anaesthesiologist at Leiden University Medical Centre, focusing on (paediatric) cardiothoracic anaesthesia. As an anesthesiologist, he researches the effects of hypoxia on the human body. He holds an international diploma in mountain medicine. He is WLS instructor and course director of both the wilderness First Aid Mountain and the Mountain Medicine course. He is co-founder of Maatschap Hoogtegeneeskunde Nederland and has been a member of the medical committee of the Dutch Climbing and Mountain Sports Association for many years. His interest therefore lies in the field of mountain medicine and in particular the effects of high mountains on physiological changes and the pathology involved. His current line of research has the theme: “How to empower the Altitude traveller?
Dirk de Vries is an anesthesiologist and pain specialist at the Spaarne Gasthuis. Since early childhood, he has spent time in the mountains and developed a passion for alpinism, trad climbing, and (ski) telemarking. He completed the Diploma in Mountain Medicine in Austria and, alongside his hospital work, serves as a reservist in the military, where he conducts scenario-based training. Through mountain medicine, he is able to combine his passion for the mountains year-round with his medical specialty.
Mark Frederikse is a military emergency physician. He has worked in Emergency Departments in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Australia, but also as a Ship Physician on large American cruise ships.
Since he started scuba diving in 1991 it has been one of his passions. He completed Scuba Instructor training in 2012. Diving and travelling the world are his hobbies, and pre-hospital emergency medicine is his niche.
Marieke van Vessem is a sports medicine resident at Maxima Medisch Centrum (Veldhoven). She is a member of the medical committee of the Dutch Climbing and Mountaineering Association (NKBV) and the UIAA. Marieke is WLS qualified and has completed the Diploma in Mountain Medicine in England. She extended her diploma with a master in Clinical Science in Mountain Medicine with her research on the long term effects of High Altitude Cerebral Edema. She instructor on the Mountain Medicine course and the Wilderness First Aid Mountain module. Furthermore, she is co-responsible for the content of the website. Marieke loves mountain biking and other outdoor adventures.
Lottie van Baal is a resident in anesthesiology, with a passion for emergency medicine and humanitarian aid. She completed the Netherlands Course on Global Health and Tropical Medicine (NTC), and has clinical experience in Surinam, Tanzania and took part in multiple projects in refugee camps. She has always been attracted to remote areas, bringing as little as possible with her in her bag, kayak or on her bike. Since Lottie started mountaineering in 2005, she spends both her summers and winters in the mountains. She has a diploma in Mountain Medicine and is an WLS instructor since 2018.
Loes de Vaan is an Emergency Medicine physician with special interest in planetary health. She regularly collaborateswith Greenpeace, where she’s been involved in marine biology research around the Galápagos Islands, tracking sharks and other sea creatures to learn more about their migration. She also worked as a ship’s doctor on the Rainbow Warrior, joining a mission to stop deep-sea mining in the Pacific.
Loes is always on the lookout for new adventures. In the past, she has joined a medical expedition by Hovercraft to rural Madagascar, organized a project in tropical medicine with the University of Khartoum in Sudan, and worked as an expedition medic for a survival program led by former commandos in the Norwegian fjords. She has been working for outdoor medicine since 2019.
Jacob van Dijk joined the Royal Netherlands Airforce to be a pilot, after his medicine studies, flying F-16 and F-18. He returned to full-time medicine recently and has now started training as military anesthesiologist. In the outdoors, he can often be found above or below sea level, either in the mountains or in the water. Jacob is a WLS instructor, DiMM and DiDDM certified and fellow of the AWM. In the future he dreams of combining his job as military anesthesiologist and adventures in the outdoors.
Marijn Sinkeldam is a general practitioner in training with an affinity for ultra-endurance sports. He has experience in the emergency department, intensive care unit, cardiology, orthopaedics, and psychiatric departments. Furthermore, he has
travelled through South America and completed tropical internships in Ghana. In his spare time, Marijn prefers to run long distances through the mountains (ultra-trail runs). Within Outdoor Medicine, Marijn is involved in Expedition Guidance and the Wilderness First Aid (Mountain) course.
Evi van der Linden has been a physician in the military since 2015, combining her medical expertise with a passion for extreme environments. She has participated in both military operations and humanitarian missions, including a 4.5-month deployment to Mali, where she further developed her pre-hospital care skills. She also provided humanitarian aid following a devastating hurricane and was deployed for reconnaissance in the jungle. Driven by her interest in extreme situations, Evi earned a Master’s degree in Extreme Medicine, which took her to challenging locations such as the desert in Oman, Mount Everest Base Camp, the Arctic Circle, and the jungles of Costa Rica. Since 2022, she has been sharing her knowledge as a Wilderness Life Support Instructor with Outdoor Medicine.
Paul van Overbeeke is an Emergency Physician from the Netherlands and he has worked in different remote areas all around the world and on expeditions to the North and South Pole. He is an WLS-instructor, after following courses in Costa Rica & Australia, and POCUS-instructor for Médecins Sans Frontières. Furthermore, he did one year of pre-hospital and retrieval medicine as flight doctor in the top end of Australia (Darwin) for CareFlight Air-Ambulance Service, both flying in fixed wing aircrafts and helicopters, in the remote and vast area of the Northern Territory and in the countries north of Australia.
Esther Schadd is a military internist-infectiologist and works at the Central Military Hospital & UMCU. During her education she worked in Central America for six months and in the Dutch Antilles for two years. At the Ministry of Defense she is a member of the BIO Aeromedevac Team, Advisory Board for Prehospital Emergency Care and actively involved in establishing a military expertise center for extreme medicine.
She likes to spend time in the outdoor with the most special experience being a six-month hike with her family through the national parks of America and Canada. She is an WLS instructor since 2019.
Nelleke Ernsting is a locum GP and ship’s doctor. She loves hiking, running, kayaking and climbing, the last mentioned in mountains as well as up in a yard of a sailing vessel. From Spitsbergen to the Antarctics. Before she became a GP, she was a Military Doctor. She successfully finished the Diploma in Mountain Medicine and the WLS course. She enjoys transferring her knowledge and be busy with outdoor medical topics. By giving the outdoor medicine courses she combines hobbies and works in a magnificent way!
Yvette Keemink is a general practitioner and has work experience in New Zealand and Nepal. She is responsible for the WFR and WFA courses. She enjoys sports (triathlon) and spending time in the mountains tramping or skiing where the Mountain Medicine and WLS courses both have turned out to be very useful.
Pleunie Rood works as emergency physician in The Netherlands. She has a PhD in surgery, and spent part of her professional career in Tanzania, South Africa, the U.S.A. and the U.K. This gave her the opportunity to practice medicine under different circumstances, and to follow her passion for travelling, nature and outdoor sports. She is WLS instructor. Currently, she participates in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Besides clinical work her areas of focus are education and research.
Rixt van der Ende is a trainee anesthesiologist with a passion for water sports. She prefers to spend as much time as possible on the water—she competes in national and international races in the J70 class, teaches sailing, and serves as skipper at various sailing events. As a ship’s doctor, Rixt has completed multiple sailing voyages aboard the Wylde Swan and the Bark Europa, including an ocean crossing and an expedition to Antarctica. She is a board member of the Dutch Medical Nautical Society and has completed the WLS, Mountain Medicine, and DMLS courses with Outdoor Medicine. Additionally, she is one of the co-founders of the Maritime First Aid course.
Floris van den Berg is a general practitioner, diving doctor and WLS instructor. As an expedition doctor he worked on all 7 continents in very challenging circumstances. From the mountains in Peru and Tanzania, the jungle of Belize, to remote places as a ship’s doctor in Siberia, Greenland and Antarctica. In 2016, he worked as an ESA research physician for 14 months at the remote research base Concordia on the South Pole. Conducting research on the effects of chronic hypobaric hypoxia, isolation and extreme cold. His most recent trip was to Papua New Guinea, where he worked as a hospital doctor in a small remote hospital in the jungle.
Jacco Veldhuyzen is emergency physician and certified diving physician. At this moment he is based at a major traumacentre in South-East England. During his training he traveled to all corners of the world and practiced medicine in South-America and the Carribean. He gained pre-hospital experience as ship doctor and event doctor. He has joined Outdoor Medicine in 2016 as WLS and DMLS faculty. Favourite activities are diving, mountainbiking, canoeing and hiking.
Lauke Bisschops is a specialist in geriatric medicine and previously worked as an emergency room doctor. She helped set up outdoor medicine and now regularly attends the WLS course as an instructor, with a special interest in lightning injuries. In recent years, she has worked as a doctor for the TV production Expedition Robinson. She worked as a diving doctor for a nature organization and regularly goes to the North and South Pole as a ship’s doctor. She has also climbed Kilimajaro and regularly works as an event and motorcycle doctor for several organizations.
Crispijn van den Brand is an emergency physician and works currently for the Dutch Institute for Clinical Auditing (DICA). He completed a PhD in emergency medicine with the subject of traumatic brain injury. Crispijn lived in South Africa for some time and worked as an intern in Surinam. He loves to travel and especially likes walking in the mountains and scuba diving in all corners of the world. He is an WLS instructor after previously participating in the first WLS course in the Netherlands and subsequently participating in courses in Botswana and Nepal.
Willemijn Hubertus works as a general practitioner. She has a passion for travelling and exploring new countries. Besides her job, she loves to do sports activities outside. She worked in Switzerland at the first aid department, where she discovered tour skiing. Recently she helped to start up a medical clinic on Aruba. There she found another new passion: kitesurfing. In 2015 she followed the mountain medicine course in Austria, and last summers, she made several glacier tours and worked as a ship’s physician in Spitsbergen. She loves to combine her job as a GP with her outdoors passion.
Mieke Luten
Mieke Luten works as a locum GP in a small rural village in Diever in Drenthe
She did part of her medical training in Australia where she developed an even stronger desire to work in remote areas immersed in nature.
During her electives she participated in the WLS course where she found likeminded souls and started teaching with Outdoor Medicine after. Mieke favours warmer environments and spent some time working as a medic in the Saharan desert,with the Floating Doctors in Panama providing care for indigenous communities, volunteers during road races in The Netherlands and this summer she’s leading the medical team for The Migration Gravel race, a gravel stage race in Kenya. She loves sports and spends most of her spare time on the gravel bike.
Feico Halbertsma was trained as a pediatric intensivist/neonatologist and now works at Maxima Medical Center, focusing on acute paediatrics and sedation. In 2005-2006 he obtained the Diploma in Mountain Medicine in Austria, and from 2017 he is an instructor at the Mountain Medicine course. His first job was in a hospital in the Indian Himalayas, where he still regularly returns for short-term work and/or teaching (and climbing, of course). He spends as much time as possible in the mountains in his spare time.
Annemarie Wuister is one of the WLS and DMLS instructors at Outdoor Medicine. She works as a locum general practitioner in the The Hague region, mainly in underserved areas, and occasionally as a street doctor. She also participates in a pilot project (SPARR) where GPs work on ambulances. She has a strong love for travel and adventure. Annemarie has worked as a doctor in refugee camps and as a ship’s doctor in the Arctic, Antarctic, and on the tall ship Eendracht. In her free time, she prefers to be in or around the sea in her hometown of Scheveningen, where she is an avid kitesurfer. She is also a catamaran instructor at a sailing school in Wassenaar and regularly provides CPR and first aid training to fellow surfers through the local kitesurfing association. On holiday, she enjoys multi-day hut-to-hut hikes in the mountains.
Sander van der Plas is a general practitioner, musculoskeletal care specialist, and medical trainer. In his daily practice, he runs joint consultations with physiotherapists for complex movement-related care and uses ultrasound diagnostics. He is a member of the medical committee of the Royal Dutch Climbing and Mountaineering Association (NKBV), where he provides education and training on mountain sports-related medical issues to members and instructors. At Outdoor Medicine, he contributes to the Mountain Medicine courses. In his free time, he is an alpinist, cyclist, and participates in adventure races.
Ambassador
Andre Kuipers
We are extremely proud that Andre Kuipers is an ambassador of Outdoor Medicine. Besides being a two-time astronaut, he is also the most famous Dutch physician to practice in ‘extremes’. Therefore he is a great inspiration to us all!
