FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

Dear UHMS Members and Friends,

Our Annual Scientific Meeting in Denver, Colorado, was, by any measure, a success — and one that deserves recognition before we turn our attention to what lies ahead. This year's joint meeting with the Aerospace Medical Association offered our members a broader range of educational programming that reflected the best of both societies. Hyperbaric and aerospace medicine share more common ground than many appreciate: both are rooted in the physiology of extreme environments, both demand rigorous standards, and both are conducive to the exchange of ideas among their practitioners. That exchange was evident throughout the week in Denver.

What gave me particular encouragement was seeing so many familiar faces — and new ones, too — among the physicians, researchers, and associates, some of whom are early in their careers and finding their way into this field and into our society. That is not something we take for granted. It is something we intend to cultivate. Every Annual Scientific Meeting teaches us something, and we carry those lessons forward into the planning of the next one.

The success of a meeting like this does not happen by itself. It is the product of volunteers who give generously of their time and expertise, and of a small, talented staff whose commitment to this field goes well beyond what their roles require. Our physician leaders and our Associate members — including CHTs, CHSs, CHRNs, DMTs, military corpsmen, and other allied health professionals — are equally essential to everything this Society accomplishes. To all of them: thank you.

It is with that spirit of gratitude, and with a clear sense of purpose, that I write to you at this particular time in hyperbaric medicine.

A FIELD UNDER PRESSURE

Across the country and around the world, hyperbaric chambers are proliferating in gyms, spas, clinics, and homes — marketed with language borrowed from medicine but stripped of medicine's rigor. Websites claim FDA approval. Both hard- and soft-sided chambers are sold directly to consumers with instructions but without physician oversight, safety training, or emergency protocols.

The consequences are no longer hypothetical. A young man in North Carolina lost his life in an unattended home chamber. A diver in Great Britain suffered unnecessary harm because a mild hyperbaric chamber was used in place of appropriate HBO2 treatment, delaying definitive care. In India, a chamber ruptured with the occupant inside. These documented events are preventable.

This is not cause for alarm. It is cause for action. And UHMS is well-positioned to respond.

OUR FOUNDATION IS STRONG

For nearly six decades, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society has served as the authoritative source for scientific knowledge, clinical education, and safety in hyperbaric medicine. Our peer-reviewed journal, our facility accreditation program, our PATH credential, our clinical practice guidelines, our MEDFAQs system, and our data registries — including the Dartmouth REDCap Hyperbaric Registry and the US Wound Registry/Hyperbaric Oxygen Registry — represent work that no other volunteer-led organization in the world can match.

Our committees — the Quality Utilization Authorization and Reimbursement Committee (QUARC), Diving, Accreditation, Education, FDA, GME, Free Diving, the Committee on Office-Based Hyperbarics, Hyperbaric Medicine, HBO2 Safety, Publications, Research, Associates, and several ad hoc and subcommittees, as well as our four regional chapters — are staffed by volunteer experts who give their time because they believe in this mission. That is not a small thing, and it is what constitutes the backbone of the UHMS.

A strong foundation, however, only matters if we build on it. My goal for this presidency is to align our collective strengths toward the challenges ahead, to ensure our committees work in coordination rather than in isolation, and to ensure the UHMS voice remains the most credible and authoritative in hyperbaric medicine — nationally and in collaboration with our international partners.

THREE PILLARS, ONE MISSION

I want to offer a clear and simple framework for how I intend to approach this work:

EDUCATION.  TECHNICAL EXPERTISE.  SAFETY.

Every committee action, every position statement, every membership conversation, every international collaboration will be measured against these three pillars. Does it advance education? Does it elevate technical expertise? Does it enhance patient safety? These are the questions that should guide us.

A CALL TO ACTION

Membership in UHMS is not a passive act. It is a statement that you believe this specialty deserves rigorous standards, that patients deserve protection, and that our field deserves a society actively working on its behalf.

If you are not yet serving on a committee, I encourage you to consider serving on one. Every committee welcomes members who are engaged and willing to contribute — even a modest commitment of time can make a meaningful difference. Whether your background is in reimbursement policy, clinical education, accreditation, diving medicine, wound care, or safety, there is a place for you here.

If you are an Associate member, I want to say this clearly: your contribution is not secondary to that of our physician members. You are present at every treatment, every chamber, every safety decision. Your expertise and your perspective matter to this Society, and we are better for having you at the table.

CONCLUSION

The growth of hyperbaric medicine presents a real opportunity. The rise of the wellness industry and the proliferation of unregulated chambers present real challenges. UHMS has navigated difficult terrain before and emerged with better educational offerings, pathways to practice improvement, and enhanced patient and technical safety standards.

I believe in what this society stands for. With the society's membership and staff committed to this field and working together, I am confident in what we can accomplish.

Respectfully,

Sandra Wainwright, MD
President, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society
president@uhms.org