Publications
Dr. Shlim is the author of over forty original research papers, and has written over twenty chapters in textbooks on travel medicine.
He pioneered travel medicine research on travelers’ diarrhea, typhoid fever, hepatitis, altitude illness, trekking deaths, and rabies. He also helped discover the diarrhea causing protozoal pathogen Cyclospora.
Dr. Shlim is the co-author, with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, of Medicine and Compassion, a book that offers advice from a Tibetan Buddhist lama on methods of training in compassion for health care professionals.
Positions Held
Past- President, International Society of Travel Medicine. The ISTM is the preeminent international organization dedicated to travel medicine, with over 3400 members in 85 countries.
Medical Editor, Health Information for International Travel (The Yellow Book). The Yellow Book is produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the primary source of information for all travel health practitioners in the United States.
Past Chairman, Teton District Board of Health (2006 to 2016)
President, Rangjung Yeshe Gomde California: A Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and Retreat Center, Leggett, California
Awards
Scientific Research Award, International Society of Travel Medicine 1995. Awarded for cumulative contributions to travel medicine research.
Research Award, Wilderness Medical Society, 1996. Awarded for the cumulative contributions to research in the field of wilderness medicine.
Himalayan Rescue Association. Lifetime Contribution Award. Presented by the Prime Minister of Nepal, K.P. Koirala, December 1998.
Paul Auerbach Award, Wilderness Medical Society, 2012. For lifetime contribution to the field of wilderness medicine.
Memberships
International Society of Travel Medicine
Wilderness Medical Society
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
International Society of Mountain Medicine
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow)
Dr. Shlim’s Story
- David R. Shlim, M.D. first visited Nepal in 1979 to work as a volunteer doctor for the Himalayan Rescue Association. After three stints near the base of Mt. Everest, he moved to Kathmandu in 1983 to begin a fifteen-year career as the Medical Director of the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine Center in Kathmandu, the world’s busiest destination travel medicine clinic.
- He created research programs into the diseases that affect travelers, and has developed an international reputation as one of the most knowledgeable travel medicine doctors in the world. He is the author of more than forty-five original research papers, numerous chapters in textbooks, and is the recent past-president of the International Society of Travel Medicine.
- In addition to his travel medicine work in Nepal, he was the head of the Himalayan Rescue Association for more than ten years. He treated all of the survivors of the 1996 Everest expedition that was detailed in Jon Krakauer’s book, Into Thin Air.
- He provided free medical care for a Tibetan Buddhist monastery for fourteen years, and developed a close relationship with the head of the monastery, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, and his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who was recognized as one of the greatest meditation teachers of the twentieth century. He also offered free medical care to the newly arrived Tibetan refugees who came over the high Himalayan passes from Tibet.
- He is the co-author, with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, of Medicine and Compassion: An American Doctor and a Tibetan Lama on How to Provide Care with Compassion and Wisdom.
- He resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he practices travel medicine and teaches Tibetan Buddhism. He regularly travels around the world to give lectures on travel medicine and medicine and compassion.
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“Although it’s not possible to cure everyone, or prevent accidents, and diseases entirely, we can try our best to ease the suffering of everyone that we meet.”
– Dr. Shlim