Emergency medical technicians, medical students and doctors from throughout the northeastern United States are in Syracuse to learn about wilderness medicine at a conference sponsored by Upstate's Department of Emergency Medicine.

Among the lectures are topics on ultrasound use in the wilderness, ticks and Lyme disease, lightning, heat illness, sports medicine and wilderness rescue operations. The conference includes an outdoor practical at Liverpool's Long Branch Park in which participants will practice grid searches and packaging victims for extrication.

The course director is Jeremy Joslin MD. Faculty who are speaking at the event include Derek Cooney MD, Eric Shaw MD and Thomas Welch MD.